Alchemy
by toytowns
Summary: Dr. Eggman accidentally wakes up a 'witch' queen that's been sealed in a crystal for five thousand years. She finds that the parasitic creatures her people initially sealed in the protective iron core of the moon millennia ago have been released due to the events that transpired after ARK came crashing to Mobius. Oh, and G.U.N. has taken notice. Shadow is not paid enough for this.
1. Long Way Home

Doctor Eggman wandered through the mysterious cave he discovered by the extremely flat Dust Hill with his 'trusty' robots, Orbot and Cubot by his side. Each held a bright flashlight that cut through the pitch black. The robots were short and thin and moved by hovering inches off the ground.

Their color-coded chassis labeled yellow for Cubot and red for Orbot. Like their names suggested they could be compacted into a sphere and a cube for easy transport which made it easier for Eggman to use his lackeys in emergent but tight situations.

The mouth of the cave was a gaping hole in the ground with an unnaturally smooth ramp that descended forward like the entrance to an underground parking lot. At first the trio was hesitant to go forward, worried they'd be run over by some kind of vehicle until they realized the cave itself was to narrow for even their hovercraft. Against better judgement they continued on foot without bringing supplies.

A peculiar wailing noise met Eggman's ears from far off ahead. It was a little sour and off-key, like someone trying to sing with a sore, phlegmy throat.

"Do you hear that?" He asked his robots.

"Hm, no. We're not picking up anything." Orbot said, looking around.

"I don't understand, how are you two not hearing this sound?" Eggman questioned his robot lackeys. "It's so loud it's giving me a headache."

He rolled up the sleeves of his red and gold jacket before unzipping it.

He thought that perhaps it _might_ have also been a bad idea to wear tight black pants in a desert. In his defense, he never expected to leave the luxury of his air conditioned vehicle and assumed that because it was winter in his native hemisphere it would be cooler outside. As it turns out winter in the arid desert typically means occasional rain if you're lucky.

"I promise you we aren't hearing anything." Orbot piped up.

"Maybe it's at a frequency _you_ can't hear. However I designed you so that you should be able to hear things that even _I_ can't."

Eggman paused to catch his shaky breath while Orbot and Cubot waited. He was older fat man who _really_ needed to take better care of himself. It felt like they were traveling for miles and he was growing tired of the feeling of having a rock in his throat.

"Had I known this was going to be such a difficult traipse I would have brought something motorized." He complained to himself.

"Don't die on us, boss." Cubot chirped.

The cave itself was only a few hundred meters deep underground but the air was thick and humid- completely different from the surface.

There was no evidence of any living creatures ever being in the cavern path. There was _no_ sign of any activity at all. No litter, no graffiti or even gum wrappers accidentally blown in by wind. No sand had leaked into the cave from the surface and certainly no fresh air did, either.

With a heavy sigh he continued on.

It was a winding, slight decline and he knew getting back up was going to be the worst of it. While it was about as wide as your average street, the ceiling was low and Eggman had to bend forward at some points so he wouldn't scrape his bald head.

The walls and ceiling were rough but the floor appeared to be carved smooth with surgical precision. The beading precipitation made the ramp no different from a slide after the rain. Nothing marred the spotless floor.

Out of the blue, for no reason at all other than on a whim, did Eggman decide to come out to this distant location as opposed to searching more locally. He hoped to scout out an area that would provide adequate space for solar energy farming and possibly a place to safely store hazardous materials far from the reach of prying government eyes.

What was supposed to be a quiet Sunday became an adventure when his various sensors picked up an unknown energy signature below them only moments after arrival in the southeastern section of Iran's Dasht-e Lut desert. His computers couldn't identify what the source was but Eggman guessed that it _wasn't_ a Chaos Emerald.

"The moisture doesn't even make sense down here. There are no bodies of water according to the sensors. Where can it be coming from?" He spoke rhetorically.

"Maybe it's all your sweat, boss." Orbot hummed.

Eggman lifted his hand as if to strike his rude robot.

"What if it's not actually a _sound?_ " Cubot asked excitedly.

"Huh?" Eggman raised an eyebrow and lowered his hand.

"Yeah! Like, what if it's actually a psychic attack or something?" Cubot sounded excited at his idea but Orbot did not share this enthusiasm and simply shook his head.

"Listen, Cubot- the day you are right about anything is the day I wear my footie pajamas in public. This wailing is giving me a headache. Maybe we should come back with more equipment. Maybe some kind of drill. Henchmen that don't suck..."

At this point the wailing quieted down to a more bearable tone and almost started taking on a discernible voice. It sounded like whispers punctuated with cries and Eggman could almost make out the words.

"You seriously do not hear that? It sounds like a _female_ voice-" He straightened up and cupped his hand around his ear.

Orbot and Cubot simply shook their heads and looked at each other. Maybe their boss finally

cracked?

 _Help_

 _I'm_

 _Sh... release…_

 _please..._

 _Open it_

 _trapped_

 _Save_

 _Moon.. and.._

"Okay, _now_ I'm starting to pick something up. It's coming up like interference. Like crackling, but I still don't hear any voices." Orbot looked around with the beam of the flashlight nearly blinding Doctor Eggman when it swung to his face.

"I hear it, too!" Cubot straightened up with a start and pointed down the hall. "It's coming from that direction!"

"The path only _goes_ in that one direction!" Orbot scolded his square friend.

"Move it!" Eggman shouted, shoving the two robots aside and charging ahead. A green light faintly glowed like a dying candle down the path. "I see a light, do you see the light?" Eggman asked his two lackeys who were lagging behind him.

 _Don't..._

 _help me... help_

 _open …_

… _..reliquary .. witch_

 _H-help…_

He broke into a sprint. The floor seemed to give way when Doctor Eggman slipped and tumbled forward for what felt like forever. He tried to grip the wall to stop himself from falling and sliced his gloved palm open on a sharp stone. The searing pain did nothing to dull the sensation of blood pouring from the wound. When he came to a stop he found himself lying on his back in a room that was wide open and brightly lit by what looked like a large glassy object embedded halfway into the wall on the far end. The ceiling was high and looked like it was carved in the same manner as the path floor. He sat up and looked at his palm and winced.

Eggman balled his hand into a fist to stop the bleeding and stood up with a pained groan. He was dizzy and nauseous after his tumble. His head throbbed with the intensity of a migraine and he wondered if he had a concussion.

"Orbot! Cubot!" he called out but received no reply. He looked around the room and realized there was no door. He looked up but also saw no opening from which he could've fell. He was trapped.

 _How do you get out of a room with no exits? The same way you got in!_ The old schoolhouse riddle came to mind. But how the Hell _did_ he get in?

He turned to his communicator gauntlet and saw the screen was shattered and useless.

"Damn it." His heart was pounding with anxiety, "I'm going to die of starvation before my idiot robots find me." He fruitlessly pounded on the screen with his fingertips hoping to turn it back on.

 _Help…_

The voice spoke again. Doctor Eggman stared at the glowing object at the other end of the room. He could vaguely make out the shape of a human in it.

He tentatively walked forward as if drawn by some invisible hand. The shape within it came into focus: it was a woman.

Now he was only a few feet away from a giant crystal. The woman suspended within was a tall, brown-skinned adult in her early thirties. Her hair was long and snow white, reaching her knees in length. Her sharp cheeks were softened by gray freckles. Her eyes were closed and her face was in a resting expression as if she was deeply asleep.

Her skinny arms hung at her side limply and clutched in her hand she held a tome with a leather cover. He could see she unshaven on her underarms and legs.

Her clothes were strange and few: a simple brown leather cloth across her chest and a ripped fabric skirt that was tied in a crude knot. She was barefoot and wore little jewelry except for a bronze circlet on her head and a round opal-like cabochon embedded at the top of her sternum.

 _I won't hurt you…_

"Are you speaking to me?" He could feel his heart pound.

 _Yes…_

He noted that the figure was not breathing. "Did you trap me here?" He asked accusingly.

 _You are trapped?_

"Yes, I don't see a way out."

 _I'm sorry…_

"Who are you? _What_ are you?"

 _Touch the reliquary…_

"What is a reliquary?" His eyes narrowed.

 _I am in the reliquary. I am not the reliquary._

Eggman paused again. He didn't want to release some kind of world-ending thing for a second time _without_ a plan to control it.

 _Touch the reliquary..._ The voice repeated with slight firmness.

The figure's eyes opened slowly revealing wide violet irises devoid of pupils.

The woman moved very little and seemed to still be half-asleep in her movements. She looked at Eggman with sleepy curiosity and lifted her hand to the inside of the crystal and pressed it against the surface.

He didn't move.

 _Please touch the reliquary…_ The voice spoke from still lips.

"What _is_ this?" He felt the urge to break the walls of the object holding her in but resisted it.

Her eyes drifted to her hand and then back to his as if to direct him to press the crystal.

He hesitantly lifted his unhurt hand and pressed it to the crystal wall lining it up with hers. In a moment the reliquary walls melted away like cotton candy in water.

The strange woman unsteadily stepped onto the ground and looked over Eggman. She barely reached his shoulders in height. Light continued to pour from behind her but changed to a white glow.

 _You've freed me. Thank you._

Her mouth still did not move. Eggman stepped back unsure of what to think other than cursing himself because Cubot was right. He felt something tighten in his chest and understood it as something tightening _between_ them.

"Sure." He said curtly. "How do we get out of here?" He looked around nervously. "And where are Orbot and Cubot?"

 _Orbot? Cubot?_

"My two robots I came here with." The light began to fade quickly and Eggman's panic increased when he saw her eyes glowed. This is _not_ a human.

 _What is a robot?_

"Never mind. Just get me out of here, please."

 _I have little energy, but I will try. Where do you want to go?_

She stepped forward and offered out her hand for the doctor to take. He hesitated.

The light was dim now and her glowing eyes made her face look sharp and menacing.

"Take me to the surface." He said just as the light died and the only light came from those vacant purple orbs. "Please." He grabbed her hand with his injured one and squeezed it.

It felt like he was in a vacuum. All the air was sucked out of his lungs in an instant and the world swirled around him.

And then he found he was outside the mouth of the cave with Orbot and Cubot waiting for him. The two humans were still holding hands. He inhaled the fresh air deeply and didn't mind that it was hot and burned his throat. She seemed to be unaffected by the glaring sunlight and the white-hot ground she was standing on barefoot.

"Boss! You're okay!" Cubot bounced with joy. "And you made a friend!"

"Who _is_ this?" Orbot gestured to the new person standing beside Eggman.

"I… I don't know." The doctor looked at her. "What is your name?"

"What happened to your hand?!" Orbot cried when he saw the blood still dripping from the gash.

The woman looked to Eggman's hand which was still clasped in hers and lifted it.

"Ah! Don't..." Eggman tried to pull his hand away but she grabbed his wrist hard and pulled him forward, nearly tripping him.

She let go of her book which floated in place and wrapped a length of her hair around his wound and squeezed it. Eggman felt a cold sensation and then nothing. The injury was healed.

She let him go and he pulled his hand back. He took several steps away from her and flexed his hand. He was fully healed; even the strain in his body from falling and the craning of his neck was gone.

She took hold of that old book again and looked off into the distance.

"Thank you? How did you do that? _What_ are you?"

"Boss, that strange energy we were tracking is gone now." Orbot piped up, seeming to not see the magic trick that was just performed.

"I think it was her, or the _thing_ she was in." Eggman pulled off his ruined glove and wiped his blood-caked hand on his jacket.

That was when a rumble in the distance startled all four of them.

"Time's up!" Eggman said. He ran to his Egg Carrier with Orbot and Cubot following suit.

It was one of GUNs large terrain vehicles. They picked up the energy reading and made quick work to travel there to investigate it.

The woman stood and watched them.

"Lady, _come on_." He motioned for her to get in, immediately regretting his invitation. She obliged.

The doctor made a beeline for his island lair hoping that GUN did not see him leave. After about half an hour of oppressive silence someone took the initiative to speak.

"What happened back there?" Cubot asked, "You sort of just vanished and we hit a wall."

"The path started closing and pushed us to the front right after you slipped." Orbot, who was sitting behind Eggman, looked the woman over, "It was like being squeezed out of a tube."

The yet unnamed woman was sitting next to Eggman with her book in her lap.

"Who _is_ the pretty lady?" Cubot was sitting behind her.

"Stop asking me questions you know I don't have the answers to!" Eggman said.

She leaned back and shut her eyes.

Within hours they were at Eggman's gigantic metal lair that sat atop a semi-dormant volcano and overlooked the ocean. He couldn't wake the woman so he had to carry her in.

He laid her gently on his large gray sofa, instructed a nearby Crabmeat robot to chaperone her and ran to his bedroom on the other side of the building.

"Orbot, Cubot, we cannot tell anyone about this." He quickly threw on a clean, identical outfit.

"Are you gonna keep her? Ooh, let's name her something like Snowy! Or Blanca?" Cubot was pacing Eggman's sparse bedroom.

"She's not an _animal_ , you idiotic bucket of bolts. I'm sure she has her own name."

"If she's not a human or an animal then what is she?" Orbot rolled up to where Eggman was.

"Dangerous." He sat on the edge of his bed and looked at his healed hand again. "I thought we were done dealing with mages and witches and all that magical nonsense."

"Maybe consider sticking her in a cage before she wakes up." Cubot suggested.

"Now that I think about it... a human doesn't sound like a good pet." Orbot picked up the laundry and moved it to the hamper where it belonged. "Let's get a budgie!"

"No birds!" Cubot cried. "They poop _everywhere!_ "

"Shut up, you two! Hmm." Eggman pondered the thought. "No. I have a feeling she will be somewhat compliant when she wakes. It's clear she's not from our time." Eggman slipped on a spare older model gauntlet. "Let's not alarm her with guns akimbo."


	2. Safe And Sound

An hour passed before the woman woke up. She opened her tired, aching eyes and sat up to look at her surroundings. The room was large and brightly lit with metal floors, walls and ceilings in silver and white with red glass inlaid. She shut her eyes tightly and held her book to her chest, feeling a lump form in her throat.

She wondered if she had finally died and she had gone to some kind of purgatory. She ran her hands over the plush sofa she was sitting on admiring the unnaturally consistent color and stitching of the fabric. Such decadence!

She tentatively lowered her bare feet to the floor and winced at how cold it was. She opened her adjusted eyes and saw a pair of boots.

"You're finally awake." Eggman stood before her grinning broadly.

She squealed with fright and dove behind the sizable cushions with only bits of her hair poking out.

"Miss?" Eggman cocked an eyebrow. "I'm not going to hurt you." He tried to coax her out using his softest, most calm voice possible.

He could hear her breathing heavily behind the cushion. She peeked out over the top, eyes wide.

" _Sen_..." She shook her hair out of her eyes. She adjusted her circlet.

"You're safe here."

She ran her hand through her hair and saw the spot where Eggman's blood was. She furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember what had happened.

She felt incredibly insecure surrounded by so much metal on all sides. She stepped out from behind the cushion and stood up straight, regaining composure.

"Thank you," she twisted her sarong back into place. At first the words that came out of her mouth sounded foreign and guttural but quickly made sense to Eggman seconds later. "Thank you for releasing me."

Eggman took a step back out of politeness.

"I apologize for inconveniencing you." She bowed slightly and held the book in her hand over her heart.

"My name is Sheptilah, queen of the Nannae people." Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment over being startled.

Now _this_ was interesting. Eggman had rescued a queen! A young and inexperienced one to boot. He could use this to his advantage.

He bowed in return with false modesty.

"Your majesty, my name is Doctor Ivo Eggman and I am pleased to meet you." He smiled broadly trying to appear harmless to her.

"I'm grateful for your rescue of me and I am honor bound to offer you my services in return. Within reason, of course."

"Services?"

"You haven't heard of the Nannae?" She squinted at him. She decided to hold back as much information as possible out of caution. "Well, as you know, I can do magic."

"No, unfortunately I have not." He really hadn't.

"Boss! You've got a call-" Cubot came into the room. His face changed to an expression of joy when he saw the strange lady was awake and waved at her.

"Your strange metal golems… I can't understand them." Sheptilah raised an eyebrow at the little yellow man, "What kind of souls did you use to make them?"

"Souls? These are robots."

Sheptilah shook her head.

Cubot was looking back and forth between the two and was unable to understand Sheptilah's language but saw that Eggman was able to respond in his own language.

"Madame, may I ask how old you are?" The doctor asked her sweetly.

"All of my teeth are in, so adequately old enough." Clearly the Nannae and their methods of telling age were… prehistoric.

"Would you say you are in your thirties?"

"My thirty _whats?_ Most people like me have thirty-two teeth if that's what you mean."

"No...thirty years." He was growing frustrated.

"May we step outside?" She offered as a compromise, "I may be able to explain more not inside your bizarre dwelling. The metal is hindering me."

"It's night right now," Eggman offered his arm to her.

"Perfect. Bring your tiny metal golem." She did not take his arm but instead walked next to him.

Eggman and his two robot lackeys immediately took her outside. It was dark and chilly but this did not seem to bother Sheptilah. The sea was calm and the waves breaking on the volcanic rock were the only sound. She inhaled the salty air quite deeply and breathed out slowly as if to calm herself.

She scanned the sky for familiar constellations and saw that a few had slightly shifted positions but overall retained their shapes. Sheptilah opened the book she was holding and turned to a page that looked like a hand-drawn star chart and compared it to the sky.

She sprinted further away from the lair which was blocking her view of the full moon and breathed a sigh of relief to see that it had seemed to be unchanged. She was on the same planet but in another time and place.

"Why were you in a crystal?" Doctor Eggman finally asked.

"I was put there by my people." She flipped through the pages to another chart and held the book up to the sky.

"And what was the reason?" Eggman tapped his foot impatiently.

"They wanted to keep me safe and alive for the future." She shut one eye and turned the book sideways. "To protect the planet."

"What do you call this planet?" She changed the subject abruptly. The sound of her bare feet slapping the volcanic rock as she jogged back to him was almost amusing.

"Mobius." He nodded.

"We called it _Zanu_. The stars have shifted. How long was I hibernating?" She sounded nervously excited.

"If the stars have shifted positions for you… it was probably a _very_ long time." Eggman frowned when he did the math in his head. He was going to have to teach her so much about modern times and it would be frustrating.

"Hey," Orbot began, "How are you understanding her language? We can't."

"What did the red golem say?" Sheptilah shook her head.

"Why can I understand you and you understand me, but not my robots?" Eggman crossed his arms.

"Oh! My Oracle Stone." She rested her free hand on the opalescent gem embedded in her sternum. It glittered in a faint rainbow of colors even in the dark.

"It is interpreting meanings for us, but it doesn't affect your golems because they have no living qualities in them. With this stone I can do many things as it's the source of my magic, but it has its limits. I will have to learn your language manually."

"It's quite beautiful." Ivo complimented her. He wanted the power in that gem. His eyes lingered on it a little too long. "How does it stay on? Glue? Honey?"

"Please don't _stare_ at it," she turned away from him, "It's part of my body. It's something we're born with."

"Oh! My apologies for staring." He cleared his throat, realizing he had been very close to her breasts. "Orbot, Cubot… do a search for the Nannae people. Let's see if we can find her majesty's kingdom to return her to her people."

"Right away, boss!" Cubot grabbed Orbot's arm and dragged him inside.

"It's not like I wanted to watch my favorite soaps or anything…" Orbot said dejectedly.

She knew she likely didn't have any living descendants but opted to let him do a search anyway to see what he could find.

"Tell me more about yourself," She asked Ivo. She wanted to get a feel for him and this new place.

This was Ivo's best subject: himself!

"I am a beloved inventor! I am a genius and far smarter than anyone else on this island and I create the most magnificent of things. I can play several musical instruments and build the tallest towers." He beamed, "I am also quite wealthy."

"You don't _look_ like a medicine man."

"Not _that_ kind of doctor. I have a fancy piece of paper from many schools called a _doctorate_ that makes me a very educated expert on robotics."

"So what _is_ a robot?" She asked with a smirk.

"A robot is a machine made of metal and electricity. I have made thousands of different kinds."

"Your people have captured _lightning?_ "

"A long time ago." He could tell she was easily impressed when explanations were given a magical twist.

"That's marvelous! What else have you done?"

"Hm…" He looked around for an example. "Well, we _have_ been to the moon."

"What!? The moon? You've been to the _moon?_ " Her eyes were huge with a mixture of excitement and horror, her smile tight and slanted.

"It's not that impressive. There's nothing up there." He lied.

"Did anything get... found up there?" She chewed on a thumbnail.

"Found? No. Just lots of dust and a great view of the planet."

Sheptilah let out a laugh to shake off the tension she felt in her chest. _Thank goodness_ , she thought. _I must have been woken up for_ another _reason._

"We worshiped the moon. It's where we get energy for our Oracle Stones. It was always our dream to go to the moon and you've done it. I can't wait to explore this world and see what it has to offer."

"Wait, you can't leave yet." He needed to keep her in one place if he was going to use her powers for his own gain.

"I certainly can't stay with _you_." She didn't necessarily want to.

"Why not? I have more than enough space."

"But your tower is made of _metal_. Iron inhibits my powers… did I forget to explain that? That and… I actually need to charge. Being in a crystal for a long time really weakens you."

"Your majesty, you are welcome to stay in my lai- I mean, _home_ , for as long as you need. I can even show you around when it is daytime. It's the least I can do since you healed me."

She hesitated for a moment and looked out to the sea. The waves rolling in the distance looked so free and careless and she wanted to melt away into them. She finally looked back at Ivo and nodded.

Eggman was happy to be back inside where it was warmer. He offered to have his robots make her dinner but she politely declined citing that she was not hungry. Instead he spent the rest of the evening teaching her things like what computers were and how to use indoor plumbing.

"It comes out hot _or_ cold instead of just cold! This is such a marvel!" She ran her hands under the water. "You don't have to heat it with fire or magic."

"Not _directly_ , no. It comes from a boiler which keeps the water hot at all times. Sometimes it uses a small, controlled flame or it uses electricity to heat the water at a specific temperature."

Ivo sincerely enjoyed having someone around to talk to; especially someone who was so enthusiastic about what he was teaching her. Sheptilah was just happy to not be talking about herself and instead focused on surviving this alien future.

She quickly figured out that stroking Ivo's ego was the best way to keep him from asking questions she was not prepared to answer.

"You're so smart. How do you know all of this?" She leaned against the sink.

"This is basic knowledge for this century; but don't worry. I'll teach you everything you need to know. I'm going to be the smartest person you'll ever meet. My IQ is three-hundred."

"I don't know what an IQ is." She smirked.

"It means I am very, very smart." He grinned broadly. "I built everything around you with my own two hands! Except for the furniture. Most of that was bought from a store."

When she felt she learned enough she had used her magic to quietly put Eggman to sleep by lightly pressing her thumb to his forehead. The magic that flowed from her thumb into his forehead felt cold and tingly but did not hurt him.

As he slumped down over his desk she removed her circlet and placed it in his hands as a sign that she would be back. Sheptilah greatly disliked abusing her powers like this but really wanted out of the iron box.

She exited with no trouble since Ivo lived alone and his robots were charging for the night. When the doors to the lair behind her hissed shut she realized her mistake.

There was no way for her to get down from the volcanic outcrop without using magic and even then she'd have to swim through a half-mile of freezing water to get to the shore. She concentrated hard and attempted to teleport to the beach but ended up about waist-deep in the frigid, churning water.

Before her brain could register where she was a tall wave pushed her forward and sent her spinning under the cold water onto the sand.

Sputtering and choking on saltwater she stood up, soaked to the bone. She was still clutching her book in her fist. She walked from the beach to a nearby patch of grass and tried to wring out her hair unsuccessfully. She had so much hair that it was practically impossible to move without feeling weighed down by it when it was wet.

Sheptilah used magic to dry off by concentrating and sending the water droplets in all directions leaving a fine layer of salt on her skin and hair. She moved to a nearby palm tree and sat against it with her knees drawn up to her chest. She laid her head down on her knees. Her salt-flaked hair pooled around her body like a protective veil.

After a long silence she let out a choked sob and began to cry- mourning for her lost family. The fight would start again soon and she prayed that she would be able to finish it.

Sheptilah took a shaky breath and swallowed hard. She had heard a rustling coming from behind.


	3. Cruisin'

A pale human man in full military garb drove the heavily armored GUN vehicle toward the source of the energy spike. Rouge the bat sat strapped into the back of the vehicle with Shadow the hedgehog sitting across from her. Both were in booster seats due to their heights.

She crossed her legs and shook her foot anxiously. They had left Omega the robot back at the base for repairs. The ground being the hard, dried dirt it was made it a bumpy ride.

The squeaking of her pleather boots was putting Shadow on edge. He couldn't understand how it didn't bother Rouge because her ears were much larger and therefore more sensitive than his. He wished the sound the vehicle made while rumbling through the desert was louder.

"It's not a Chaos Emerald, I can tell you that," Shadow spoke up, "It feels different."

Rouge rolled her eyes at him. She was a treasure hunter! No need to rub salt in the wound- she was already miserable coming to the desert.

"Whatever it is it better be worth my time coming out here." She was greatly annoyed.

"We're here." The man said. Shadow and Rouge exited the vehicle and looked around. In the distance they could see Eggman's carrier leaving. The land appeared pristine and untouched, as if he was just passing through.

"How did he beat us to it?" Rouge scoffed.

"He could've been the source of the energy spike, I guess." Shadow shaded his eyes with his gloved hand and walked forward several paces.

"Should we follow him?" Rouge sounded bored.

"It doesn't look like anything happened out here, so no." The Overlander shrugged. "All of my sensors stopped going off."

"There's blood here," Shadow pointed to a few drops he was standing next to, "And two sets of adult Overlander footprints in the dust: one with shoes and one without. These huge footprints are Eggman's."

The Overlander took a sample of the blood for testing. "How do you know it's his foot print?" He asked Shadow.

The black and red hedgehog simply pointed to the little cartoon logo of Eggman's face in the depression. "The man wears his own brand of shoes."

"Tacky." The Overlander said getting up. He called his supervisor and asked if they should chase after Eggman but was given a negative and ordered to return to base.

Rouge pulled out her phone and snapped pictures of the evidence up close and then flew into the air to take aerial photos. That's when she noticed a large area of freshly disturbed earth near where Shadow was standing.

"Hey, Shadow!" She shouted. "Looks like something was right where you're standing but is gone now. Maybe it was Eggman's ship?"

Shadow sighed. "I don't think it was anything important. We might as well go back and test the blood we found. We can confront Eggman about it later; he was probably testing out some new weapon that didn't do any damage."

Rouge landed gracefully and sent the photos she took off to their director.

"It must have been a small injury if there's only a few drops. I don't see any tracks that show urgency, so maybe one of them was hurt and that's why they left." The Overlander suggested. "No drag marks."

"Why would anyone be barefoot out here in the desert? Their feet would've gotten burned." Shadow crossed his arms.

"Maybe he was _entertaining_ a lady friend," Rouge chuckled, "And he got fresh so she stabbed him."

"It could be a _man's_ footprint; just a small one. Why are we assuming it's _Eggman's_ blood? Besides, If the director wants us to go back we should."

"Let's load up, then." The Overlander adjusted his dense bulletproof vest. "I feel like a turkey in an oven out here."

The trio was loaded back into the blessedly air-conditioned vehicle and drove off again. While the Overlander was chatting casually with his director for the day Rouge pulled her phone out and texted Sonic.

 **[WhiteEcho]** Hey are you there?

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Whats up

 **[WhiteEcho]** I need you to do me a favor

 **[WhiteEcho]** Keep an eye on eggman for me

 **[WhiteEcho]** And let me know if he's with anyone

 **[BlueBlrr91]** what's he up to now?

 **[WhiteEcho]** I don't know, but we just saw him leave an area of interest

 **[WhiteEcho]** I can't say anything else

 **[BlueBlrr91]** It's quiet on the island, I'll let you know if I see anything

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Is Shadow there? Say hi for me!

Rouge looked up from her phone at Shadow who was staring out the window. He wasn't even bothered by the constant dinging from her phone. Maybe he was counting the rocks they passed by.

 **[WhiteEcho]** He says

 **[WhiteEcho]** *looking at cactus*

 **[BlueBlrr91]** What does that even mean

 **[WhiteEcho]** idk it's just what he's doing right now

 **[BlueBlrr91]** k have fun out there

Rouge put her phone into sleep mode and nudged Shadow with her foot. "When are you gonna get your own phone?"

"I don't need a phone." He rested his head against the window.

"We can't use our GUN communicators for everything. Besides how else are you gonna take cute pictures of your food?"

"Why would anyone take pictures of their food?"

"You must eat boring food."

"We can't all take artsy pictures of our burritos, Rouge."

"I was very proud of that burrito I made you! It was gourmet quality." She rarely cooked for herself but when she did for friends she went all-out.

"It _was_ delicious," he admitted, "But I wouldn't put it in the Louvre."

"Anyway, Sonic says hi." She smiled at Shadow. He just let out a scoff and rolled his eyes

Back at GUN's base Shadow and Rouge were sitting with a different Overlander who was almost done making repairs to Omega. The robot was patiently holding her in his hand so she could reach the smallest parts of his neck with an equally tiny wrench.

Her phone dinged. She put the wrench in the front pocket of her overalls and looked at the message.

"The results are in," spoke Hope, niece of Eggman and resident teenage tech genius of GUN,"It's Eggman's blood." She wasn't disturbed by this at all and was a little disappointed her uncle didn't die. Hope shoved her phone back in her pocket and took the wrench out again and went back to what she was doing.

"So today was a waste of time." Shadow sighed. He was gonna be kicking sand and dirt out of his skates for weeks.

"Maybe he lost a finger." Omega helpfully suggested. "I hope he lost all his fingers."

"No, we would've found it." Rouge smiled broadly.

"So you still have that theory that Eggman was the source of the energy spike?" Hope brushed her blonde hair behind her ear. "He was probably testing some kind of weapon out there."

"If I was there I could have gone after his ship." Omega said. "I then would have retrieved a finger. For reasons."

"I haven't heard back from Sonic, so I don't think anything is going on at all." Rouge shrugged. "I'm going to bed. Good night, Hope; you too, Shadow."

Hope waved goodbye as Rouge left and Shadow only let out a grunt. He was thinking about that second set of human footprints he saw.

"Is something the matter, Shadow?" Hope asked sweetly.

"Nothing. Just annoyed. You should go to bed, too. Don't work yourself sick." Shadow ran his hand through his spines.

"I'm almost done..." With a few more turns of the wrench her work was finished. "Give that a try, Omega."

Hope backed up so Omega could test out his new parts. "I am lithe again. Feels good. Thank you, my favorite meatbag." he nodded. Hope jumped down and smiled broadly at her work. "I can destroy things again!"

"Excellent job as usual, Hope." Shadow smiled at the girl. He was curious about Rouge's aloofness and decided to keep an eye on her.

After tucking Hope into bed he silently warped out to his dorm which was adjacent to Rouge's. Shadow looked around the windowless room which contained an overstuffed bookcase with one lone chao plush Cream the rabbit had given him seated on top, a desk, a closet and a twin size bed.

That was when he heard Rouge's phone start chirping. Sonic had finally replied.

Sonic was enjoying a sleepy Sunday afternoon in his beachfront shack when Rouge had texted him. He was about to fall asleep, too.

Keep an eye on Eggman. What's new? It's not like Sonic had anything else to do today.

He hopped out of his hammock and went over to a wooden dresser to find a pair of binoculars Tails had made him.

"No… no… _no_..." Sonic spoke to himself as he was digging through his junk. His binoculars were missing.

He groaned to himself and sped around the shack looking for the misplaced item. A blue blur whizzed through boxes and around furniture, the breeze caused by his super fast movements blowing loose magazines around.

"Well, looks like I have to go to Tails' to get a new pair."

In a flash Sonic zoomed out to the workshop Tails lived in. The little two-tailed fox was working on another invention and wearing protective gloves and goggles while soldering.

"Hey, bro!" Sonic cheerfully shouted.

Tails jumped and nearly dropped his tool. "Sonic!" He yelped.

"Oh, sorry! Didn't mean to scare you." Sonic lightly pat Tails on the back.

Tails clicked off his tool with his thumb and took off his goggles. "What's up, Sonic?"

"I got a text from Rouge earlier. She wants me to spy on Egg-face and I can't find my binoculars. Can I borrow a pair?" He smiled broadly.

"Okay but try not to lose them this time. They're expensive to make. Maybe I should go with you…" Tails pulled off his protective gloves and put on his plain white ones.

"Maybe we should invite Knuckles and Amy, too. Make a day out of it." Sonic suggested.

"I guess that could be fun." Tails dropped his goggles on the table and walked over to a shelf where he had a spare pair of binoculars sitting out.

"Hey Knucks, Sticks or Amy, you there?" Sonic spoke into his little wrist communicator.

"Hi, Sonic!" Amy spoke cheerfully.

"Let's meet up at the beach by Eggstain's. I got a mission from Rouge."

"Rouge!" Sonic heard Knuckles' voice sound antsy.

"Yes, Rouge," Sonic said, "Bring a snack!"

The group sat on the beach enjoying the mild weather waiting for Eggman to come back. Tails was looking through his binoculars at the lair.

"I've never met this Rouge; is she trustworthy?" Sticks the badger was digging in the sand for sHells she could weaponize.

"She's great," Sonic said, "But will steal your jewelry if you're not watching. She goes on missions with Shadow and a robot named Omega for GUN."

"She doesn't sound very smart. Who would willingly cavort with robots? Maybe she's a robot herself!" Sticks was not a badger that trusted anything mechanical.

"Omega is a nice robot, Sticks." Amy said as she turned a page of her sappy romance novel she was reading. She was sitting in a beach chair with her purse beside her. She carried Sonic's phone in it along with other junk of his since he wouldn't wear pants and therefore had no pockets.

"If we spot anything out here you may get to meet her and Omega. Even Shadow, maybe." Sonic shrugged. He and Knuckles were building something out of sand that sort of half-resembled a castle.

"Last time we saw Shadow he was mad and I think he tried to kill you," Sticks dug deeper into the sand, "I still trust _him_ more than a robot."

"He didn't try to _kill_ me," Sonic corrected her, "We have a _rivalry_."

"Uh huh." Amy said unimpressed. "Tails, do you see anything?"

"Nope," he adjusted his binoculars, "Maybe he stopped for junk food on the way back from wherever he was."

Knuckles walked out to the water and took up a huge armful of wet sand and dropped it directly onto Sonic's head.

"Whoops, sorry Sonic." He chuckled.

"Ugh! Knuckles, watch where you're going! I'm going to be digging sand out of my spines for a year…" He shook the sand off of him getting it all over Amy and Sticks.

The girls yelped with outrage at this treatment and threatened to throw Sonic into the water if he wasn't more careful.

"Hey, guys... Eggman is back." Tails said. He watched the scientist land his carrier carefully outside his lair. Everyone moved to where Tails was sitting and looked out to the lair but without binoculars they couldn't see much. Knuckles falsely believed if he pantomimed holding a pair that it would help.

Eggman exited the carrier holding something in his arms.

"It looks like a white curtain or a rug?" Tails seemed unsure of what he could see. Sheptilah's hair was wrapped around her body like a mummy. Sonic took the binoculars from Tails and took a look for himself.

"More like he's carrying a person. Actually, it's a _woman_." Sonic was scandalized! Another human on the island? One Overlander was way more than adequate. He took out his phone from Amy's purse and immediately began to text Rouge back.

"A woman in white? Like a bride?" Amy sounded interested and took the binoculars from Sonic. "Maybe she'll keep him busy for the rest of his life and he won't bother us anymore. Ooh he's doing the princess carry! Oh how romantic… wait… she's asleep. Or dead." Now Amy sounded concerned.

"We need to investigate! He may have kidnapped someone! Or worse… she _willingly_ went with him!" Sticks stood up and held her boomerang in the air. "We can't allow Eggman to breed! Imagine: a disgusting dozen of bald babies with ugly mustaches! The horror… the _horror…_ "

 **[WhiteEcho]** What's going on?

 **[BlueBlrr91]** we're camped out watching eggdude's lair and

 **[BlueBlrr91]** he got out of his carrier and hes got a girl with him

 **[WhiteEcho]** a girl or a woman?

 **[BlueBlrr91]** a woman. A human and she's asleep or unconscious

 **[WhiteEcho]** is she hurt?

 **[BlueBlrr91]** doesn't look like it

 **[WhiteEcho]** thanks Sonic. Keep an eye on him let me know if he leaves.

 **[WhiteEcho]** I'll see if I can do a flyby to the island tonight. Don't confront him unless

 **[WhiteEcho]** you think something is wrong. Wait till I get there

 **[BlueBlrr91]** sure

"What's she saying?" Amy peeked at Sonic's phone.

"She says not to engage unless we think something's wrong," Sonic handed his phone to Amy to hold, "And that she's gonna try to come out here tonight to investigate."

Sticks growled. "I don't like this. I hate waiting!"

"Rouge is coming by? Tonight? Oh no!" Knuckles jumped up, "I have to…" he paused, "Get ready!" He ran off, kicking sand everywhere.

"Subtle," Amy remarked, "He's still got a crush on her."

Sonic chuckled. "Well she _is_ a babe…" Amy shot him a look and Sonic shrugged.

"Wait, how long do we have to be out here?" Tails sounded frustrated. He wanted to get back to his workshop and finish what he was doing if he wasn't needed at the beach.

"We don't all have to be out here. Sonic and I can stay while you guys go back to what you were doing. We can meet up again if Eggman makes a move." Amy smiled at Sonic who only met her look with a raised eyebrow. He decided it wasn't worth the stress so he agreed.

Tails made Amy promise she wouldn't lose this pair of binoculars and left. Sticks took home her respectable collection of sHells to make weapons and hair accessories out of.

It was a long while before anything else had happened at Eggman's lair. Amy and Sonic had built a small fire on the beach to keep warm with. The sun had set early since it was winter and the sparkling ocean was illuminated by a full moon. She and Sonic were laying back on the beach chair together watching Comedy Chimp episodes on his phone.

"What if Eggman did run off and get eloped? That's so weird." Amy wondered. She was resting her head on Sonic's shoulder in total bliss. Now she had marriage on the brain. She was only thirteen years old but she loved to imagine wearing a gorgeous, flowing white dress down the aisle when she becomes an adult.

Her hair done up with real roses and a veil of the most sparkling gossamer that floated on the air… Sonic in a tuxedo waiting for her at an altar with tears in his eyes…

"Amy, your sappy romance paperbacks are complete fiction. Nobody would marry Eggman. It's probably a robot," Sonic chuckled, "Though he did make a robot bride or two when I was a lot younger…"

"They didn't last long did they?"

"Nope!" Sonic grinned from ear to ear. Amy was so taken with Sonic's smile she was tempted to lean in and kiss him on those fawn-colored lips.

"Oop, I see movement." Sonic reached down and picked up the binoculars. Amy frowned- Yet another nice moment ruined by Eggman.

"The woman is okay and… all that white stuff? That's actually all her _hair_. Look," he handed Amy the binoculars. "Check it out." Amy took the pair and sat forward staring intently.

"She's running… running… stopped. Looks like she's holding a book? She went back to Eggman and they're talking. I can't tell what they're talking about, but their body language tells me they're both okay with being around each other."

Sonic was already texting Rouge again.

 **[BlueBlrr91]** guess who! We're on the beach by eggman's

 **[WhiteEcho]** Hi Sonic, good timing I was about to fly out.

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Eggman is with a woman with way 2 much hair

 **[BlueBlrr91]** they're out talking

 **[WhiteEcho]** ooh spicy!

 **[BlueBlrr91]** is Shadow coming?

 **[WhiteEcho]** no, see you in an hour. Stay put

 **[BlueBlrr91]** aw ok, see you soon rouge! Knux is excited to see you again

 **[WhiteEcho]** ;)

"She's facing this way but I don't think she can see us. She looks... sad." Amy frowned. "She just went back inside with him." Sonic got up and was kicking sand on the fire to put it out.

"Rouge is on her way; she says to stay put."

"Why are you putting out the fire?" Amy asked as she put the binoculars in her purse.

"You said she was looking this way, right? I don't want us to get spotted."

"Good point but how will Rouge see us?"

"Um…" Sonic was stumped. "She'll text us!" _Smooth_.

* * *

Rouge packed a pink heart-shaped messenger bag with some tiny bombs, a loaded handgun, warp ring and her lipstick.

Normally she didn't go anywhere without Shadow but she needed some time to herself. It ha

d been a long time since she was at the Seaside Island and she would enjoy a short tropical vacation.

Since she was doing this 'under the table' she felt it was best to be as discreet as possible. Her plan was to fly out a good distance then use the warp ring to get to the island.

Leaving the GUN fortress is not that hard if you aren't a prisoner. It is situated on a mountain that overlooks the sea. Rouge had taken the stairs up to the roof and was disappointed to see it was threatening to rain when she opened the door. The air felt electrified and thunder rumbled overhead.

"You'll get struck by lightning." She heard a voice from behind her. It was Shadow.

"Shadow! You scared me."

"What are you doing out here?" He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, blocking the stairwell.

"I should ask you that," Rouge put her hand on her hip, "Are you spying on me?"

"I want to go with you."

"We can't _both_ go out without permission."

"We can if we're back before morning," Shadow smirked.

"Is this about that second set of footprints?"

"Something about it is bothering me and I can't put my finger on why that is."

"It's a woman Overlander. Sonic said Eggman carried her into his base earlier and he saw her again just now. That's why I'm leaving. I'm going to investigate it."

"Why are you going alone?"

Rouge raised an eyebrow and then chuckled. Shadow was so naive.

"What's so funny?" He was annoyed.

"Because if Eggman isn't doing anything wrong we don't need to start a scandal. The blood was his. There was no struggle. No reason to give us more paperwork than necessary."

"I'm still going."

"Fine," Rouge sighed, "Are you going to teleport us or are you going to use my warp ring?"

"I'll teleport us." He stepped forward and took Rouge by the upper arm.

"We're going to Seaside Island. Specifically, the beach across from Eggman's lair."

Shadow nodded and in a flash they found themselves standing in front of a startled Sonic and Amy.


	4. Beautiful Creatures

Shadow and Rouge teleported several feet above the beach so they wouldn't accidentally appear on or in anything. They landed softly behind Amy and Sonic who was still kicking sand on the freshly extinguished bonfire.

"Yikes!" Amy cried when she felt the puff of air from the teleport push her forward. Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin when Shadow tapped him on the shoulder.

"Being defenseless will get you killed, Faker." He smirked baring uncomfortably sharp-looking canines.

Sonic's spines were puffed out defensively and spun around to look Shadow in the eye. He grinned trying to cover the fact that he nearly gave up the ghost.

"Hi, Sonic." Rouge giggled. "Hi, Amy."

"I thought you said Shadow wasn't coming …" Sonic spoke through his clenched teeth.

"I invited myself." He stepped around Sonic to greet Amy.

"Don't startle me like that," Amy sighed, "You almost got a hammer to the face." She hugged Rouge tightly. It had been a very long time since they last saw each other.

"I tried to sneak out without getting his attention but he busted me anyway. Sorry, Sonic." Rouge shrugged and hugged Amy back. Sonic was brushing down his spines with his hands.

The quartet moved to the cover of the bushes and discussed what they saw. Shadow explained the footprints and the weird energy spike GUN was tracking. Rouge showed them the pictures she took at the site. Sonic scrolled through them and wondered what kind of weapon would make that weird shape in the disturbed earth. It was nearly a perfect circle, so it could be an exceptionally massive Egg carrier or maybe the base of a new missile he was testing out in the desert.

"If he was testing a big weapon out there and got hurt… where is the weapon _now?_ And what's that lady got to do with it?" Sonic handed the phone back to Rouge.

"It was hardly much blood, so maybe it was a simple paper cut or something," Rouge put her phone in her purse, "Unless it happened off-site. But you said that he didn't appear injured."

"From what we saw she was wearing just a tube top and a ripped sarong. Maybe he found her out there in the desert." Amy shrugge. "A lost tribe, maybe?"

Shadow ignored the conversation going on next to him and stared off at the silvery tower in the distance. It was a clear night and the moon's fullness made it easy for him to see far away. His eyes focused on the entrance to the lair and he let out a low growl when he saw the doors open.

"Shadow?" Rouge whispered. Shadow didn't respond.

"Shads," Sonic said, "Why are you growling?"

Still no response.

Amy summoned her hammer just in case she had to clobber the dark hedgehog.

"Shadow," Rouge snapped her fingers next to his ear, "focus."

"Hm?" Shadow turned to Rouge and saw the nervous faces of the other two hedgehogs. "Sorry, lost in thought. Someone just left the lair."

It was at that moment that Sheptilah teleported over the water and let out a scream.

They heard the resulting splash and turned to the water to see a soaked Overlander get pushed over by a wave and roll onto the beach.

"Graceful." Rouge whispered.

All four kept their eyes locked squarely on her while she walked to a nearby tree and tried to wring out her hair. She walked right by the four and didn't notice them. The Mobians looked at each other and then back at Sheptilah.

Amy gripped the handle of her hammer hard when she saw the Overlander use magic to dry herself off but loosened her grip when the human began to sob.

"Amy… _Amy don't_ …" Sonic whispered as the pink hedgehog rose from her crouching position and walked toward the woman. It wasn't in her nature to not comfort someone who was upset. Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

"Are you… are you okay?" Amy slowly approached the human, still carrying her hammer. "Miss?"

The woman looked over Amy with surprise and stood up. Rouge flew over to Amy as backup in case the Overlander attacked.

Sheptilah took a step back when Rouge made herself known.

"Did my crying disturb you?" Sheptilah finally spoke. "I apologize. I am alright." She knelt down on one knee to be at eye-level with the much shorter Mobians. The sparkling gem on her chest caught Rouge's attention.

The other two hedgehogs emerged from the bushes and calmly walked over to their friends by the kneeling Overlander.

"My name is Sheptilah." She smiled sweetly. She had never seen so many creatures this brightly colored before.

"I'm Amy Rose, this is Rouge, Sonic and Shadow." She offered her hand.

"Strange to see clever folk of your species and colors. We had bats where I am from, but not your kind. What are you?" She took Amy's hand and gently shook it. There was something warm and familiar about the lot of them but Sheptilah couldn't place why.

"We're hedgehogs," Sonic said, offering his hand. Sheptilah shook his as well. They all felt more at ease now that they've had their introductions.

"What's clever folk?" Rouge declined to offer her gloved hand but instead smiled.

"You; you're clever folk. Sapient non-humans."

"We call ourselves Mobians." Shadow corrected her.

"Mobians, then. I am a Nannaic witch." She bowed slightly out of respect. She sensed unusual power from all four of them and did not want to bring their wrath. Rouge rested her hand on her purse that held her weapons.

"Why were you crying?" Amy asked sincerely.

"Death in the family. I apologize again for disturbing you. I thought I was alone."

"You're related to Eggman?" Rouge asked.

"Oh, no. He is a…" Sheptilah paused to find the word. "A friend? A friend."

Shadow and Rouge looked at each other and then back at Sheptilah. Sonic stifled a laugh. Eggman? Having friends?

"Why were you in the desert?" Rouge asked her. "We were out there earlier and saw Eggman leave."

"Don't worry about it." Sheptilah waved her hand not clutching the book.

"Answer the question," Shadow demanded. "Why were you in the desert?"

Amy crossed her arms and frowned at Shadow's rudeness. Sheptilah brushed her hair behind her ear and smiled. "Don't worry about it. You kids are kind of nosy." She repeated.

"You shouldn't trust him, Sheptilah," Sonic said taking a step toward her, "He's a bad guy."

"Maybe," the Overlander said, "But I owe him for rescuing me." She realized she said too much and face-palmed.

"Rescued you from _what_ , exactly?" Rouge stretched her wings a little. She could sense Sheptilah was about to make a break for it.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." Sheptilah was feeling overwhelmed. _Fight or flight,_ she thought. _Why am I being interrogated at every turn?_

"Guys, maybe if we tried not ganging up on her she'd answer our questions." Amy was using her 'therapist' voice.

Sheptilah turned and broke into a sprint but was immediately stopped by Sonic who didn't even break a sweat. He moved so fast that he was almost an invisible blur kicking up sand. She tried turning directions and was met by Sonic's smirking face at every one.

"You're not going to outrun him, honey." Rouge called.

"So I'm trapped." Sheptilah gave in. If she had her familiar or even half of her powers restored she'd be able to blow all of them to the other side of the planet without even lifting more than a finger. She brushed the salt that was still on her skin and hair away.

"I'm afraid we can't let you just walk away unless we know you're alright and not evil or anything like that. Doctor Eggman has done a lot of bad things to us. Do you understand?" Sonic tried to explain the situation.

"What has he done to you?"

"Well... he roboticized many of my friends, destroys our town, tries to take over the world every other day…" Sonic trailed on and on.

"Tried to blow up the planet _several_ times." Shadow added.

"Eggman cuts in line at the food court all the time." Amy was still scrolling through her phone.

"He cheats at sports, too, since we're being petty." Rouge nodded.

Sheptilah thought about this. How could such a nasty person be the one destined to set her free? Was her understanding of the spell that put her in the crystal flawed? Why would a human hurt the clever folk and why would someone so obviously talented fail so often? She did not know what 'roboticized' meant but she guessed that it was to turn living creatures into soulless metal golems. She was angry at the thought of someone abusing living things. She came from a culture where even the royalty were servants to those that needed their aid.

"I was trapped in a crystal in the desert for a very, very long time. So long that the stars have shifted in the sky. I belonged to a dying race of witch people known as the Nannae who protected the planet you now call Mobius. We called it Zanu back then. My people put me there and I was found today by Doctor Eggman. He let me out."

"A giant crystal, huh?" Rouge walked up to her. "Were you a prisoner or something? And is the crystal still there?"

"No. I wasn't a prisoner and the crystal is gone. I was put there to defend the planet whenever I woke up at a later time. I was their _queen_. I was supposed to be awoken by someone who would help me defend Za-, I mean, Mobius."

Amy pulled her phone from her purse and was looking up the Nannae people. She got no results at first because she searched it phonetically. She tried several other search terms and eventually got something. She put her hammer face-down in the sand and leaned on the handle while she read the articles.

"Defend it from what, exactly?" Shadow looked the Overlander in the eye. Crimson met violet directly for the first time and she swore his stare almost burned through her.

"The… the witch-eaters. A race of semi-sentient beings that wanted our Oracle Stones." She gestured to the charm on her chest. "This. The source of our powers."

"How do we know you aren't lying to us, though? I would say I was a queen, too, if I fell out of a crystal." Rouge reached into her purse and took out her phone to snap a photo of Sheptilah candidly. She made sure the flash wasn't on when she took the picture.

"You don't have to believe me." Sheptilah shrugged. "But I don't know how to prove to you what you want to know."

"This article I found says that the Nannae were a diverse race of humans that disappeared over five-thousand years ago and not much is known about them except they built a massive oasis in the desert and were likely extremely hospitable." Amy was reading from her phone.

"Another one says some ancient paintings suggest they often had Mobian familiars to aid in their magic."

"A familiar?" Rouge asked. "Like a pet?"

"Oh, no way," Sheptilah shook her head, "Familiars are our equals. Predestined creatures that pool their powers and abilities and their friendship allows them to do great things. Most of them also had Oracle Stones of their own. There are some spells and actions that can't be done without a familiar. Please… _please_ let me leave now. I will make a deal with you if you let me leave." Sheptilah yawned, "I need to charge."

"What kind of deal?" Shadow eyed her suspiciously.

The Overlander suddenly bit into her hand between the thumb and index finger drawing blood. Amy looked away with disgust and Sonic's jaw hung open with surprise and horror. Shadow remained unphased by this sudden behavior from the human. Rouge cringed at the sight and felt bile rise in her throat.

Sheptilah bent down and picked up a handful of sand and squeezed her bloody palm. She used a portion of her remaining energy to create three orbs from the mixture. Each was a tiny glass marble with a red swirl in the center. The wound she created in her hand healed itself instantly.

"This is a witch orb. You can summon me from anywhere with this if you squeeze it and say my name three times. I'm sorry, I only had enough power to make three and there are four of you…" She tossed one at Sonic."Try it. Run to somewhere I cannot see you and then summon me. I will appear."

He caught the marble and looked at it. It appeared like the typical child's toy. He nodded and sped off to the other end of the beach. Sonic squeezed the marble and spoke her name three times. In a moment Sheptilah appeared next to him.

"Cool!" He ran back to where the others were and summoned her again. "It's auto-magic!"

"Anytime, anywhere, this will work." She tossed one to Shadow who caught it immediately. Sheptilah handed the last one to Amy. "I will keep an eye on Doctor Eggman for you. If he gets up to any trouble I will stop him."

"Aw, I don't get one?" Rouge pouted.

"I'm sorry. I will give you something else when I am not drained. I promise, Miss Rouge."

Shadow looked over the strange object. Clearly this Overlander meant no harm and was simply a fish out of temporal water. He did not fully trust her but was more at ease knowing re-capture was simple.

Sheptilah was starting to feel greatly fatigued now. She hadn't eaten and certainly did not get any restful sleep in the time she was suspended in the reliquary.

"I'll hold you to it." The white bat smiled.

"Please don't let anyone know I'm here. I need to rest for a few nights. After that I will gladly serve you with my magic." Sheptilah bowed to them. She tried to teleport back to the lair but she did not have enough energy to do so. The woman seemed to vanish for a moment but then come back into focus.

She tried again with the same results.

"I promise you kids I am much more impressive when I'm not so groggy."

"Are you trying to get back to the lair?" Rouge asked.

"Yes."

"I gotcha." She grabbed Sheptilah by the waist and flew off with her over the water.

The human clung to the bat tightly from surprise.

"You're a bit heavier than you look, Overlander," Rouge glided over the sea effortlessly and gently landed at the entrance to the lair. "Maybe consider a haircut?"

"Your grumpy friend Shadow is a lot less agreeable than you are. Thank you, miss Rouge."

"I wanted to isolate you for a moment, actually."

"Oh?"

Shadow teleported himself next to Rouge. The human was startled by the sudden movement but then let out a chuckle.

"Mobians will never cease to amaze me."

"Shadow and I work for GUN, which is a worldwide police force that protects the planet from things like Eggman and aliens. You're going to be a person of interest. If GUN forces come looking for you... don't attack them. We're on your side."

"Do they know about me?" Sheptilah sounded worried.

"No, not yet. We had to investigate the weird energy spike this morning in the desert. As far as they know only Eggman was the cause of it."

Shadow pointed at the Overlander. "If you make one false move we will immediately take you into custody."

"Why aren't you taking me in _now?_ " She worried that maybe her magic was subconsciously brainwashing the clever folk into leaving her be.

"I think you could be of more use to us right now if we don't bring attention to you. GUN will eventually have to know about your existence; especially because of your mention of witch-eating beings." Shadow crossed his arms.

"They are dangerous." Sheptilah nodded. "They're a scourge. We couldn't kill them so we trapped them in the moon before I was crystallized. Something must have happened because I shouldn't be awake unless they've gotten out."

"The _moon?_ " Rouge looked at Shadow worryingly.

"Yes, the center of it. Did something happen?"

"A few years ago the moon was halved by a weapon wielded by your 'savior' Doctor Eggman." Shadow said.

For a moment Sheptilah forgot how to breathe. She swallowed hard and tried to calm her trembling body.

"Take me to GUN."


	5. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

"Stay put, Overlander." Shadow took Rouge by the hand and teleported to GUN's main gate. He then cast the spell to summon Sheptilah. When the human arrived there was a slight delay and she landed hard on the soaked asphalt. The rain was pouring heavily and lightning flashed overhead.

"I just got dry." Sheptilah lamented. Rouge helped her stand up.

"Director? We've just brought in a person of interest," Rouge spoke into her wrist communicator, "She's a friendly, so no need for armed support."

"It's... two in the morning." A groggy male voice spoke. "Alright. Meet me in my office."

The giant metal doors slid open and the two Mobians escorted Sheptilah inside. The guards stationed on both sides of the hall took their hands off their weapons when they saw the Overlander was not cuffed.

"Oh great… more metal. I can _feel_ it." Sheptilah's eyes darted in every possible direction. She went from a sleek, brightly lit metal tower to a more rugged, darker one. She almost preferred Eggman's lair simply because she missed that amazing sofa she woke up on. Sheptilah's eyes met that of Mobians and humans as well as robots but she could not read their emotions.

Shadow and Rouge escorted her to the director's office. He was an unassuming looking elderly man in a bathrobe and pajamas with a fair complexion washed out under the harsh fluorescent lights. His graying hair matched the gray of his eyes. The lines in his face were deep and broad like canyons carved out by rivers.

His office was large but empty. There were no windows, much like the rest of the building, and few pieces of furniture. A desk, chair and laptop were all that was in it.

"This is Sheptilah," Rouge gestured to the woman, "Self-proclaimed queen of the Nannae."

"I see you brought a very under-dressed self-proclaimed queen into my office," He said while handing her his bathrobe for modesty. "My name is Boris Cabbot, I'm the director for Team Dark." He had a voice like honeyed gravel.

Sheptilah accepted the robe and wrapped it around herself like a cloak. "I apologize for not keeping up with the fashions. I've been asleep for five thousand years." Sheptilah covered her mouth with her hand and yawned.

"Ah, she's funny." Cabbot smiled. "So what's all this, then?"

Shadow explained as briefly as possible what was going on. Cabbot understood the situation but ordered them to put Sheptilah in a cell for holding while verification was done. She did not protest. Shadow and Rouge escorted the witch to the prison hold deep under the fortress. It was a long elevator ride down and it was becoming evident that Sheptilah was claustrophobic. Her breathing quickened throughout the descent; almost to the point of hyperventilation.

"If you keep breathing like that you are going to pass out." Shadow warned her.

"How far down do we have to go?" Beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She was wringing her hair in her hands nervously.

"Not much longer, Tilly." Rouge smiled at her, "I don't like being underground, either. The pressure change makes my ears pop." She was texting instructions to Shadow and Amy on her phone and apologies to Knuckles for not seeing him while she was there. She wanted the two hedgehogs to stand down but keep an eye on Eggman as usual.

Sheptilah thought the nickname the bat had just bestowed on her was adorable. With a chime they finally reached their destination and stepped off the elevator into yet another dismal hallway.

Beyond extremely thick steel doors was the prison section. It was well lit and wide open. Sheptilah had to shield her eyes from the painful brightness. Dozens of spaced-out glass cubes with air holes drilled into them at the top were aligned in a grid. Each one was supposed to be a tiny room to house a prisoner but GUN currently had nobody detained, so Sheptilah was alone aside from the robot guards standing at the entrance.

Their footsteps echoed, or rather, Shadow's metallic footsteps echoed in the cavernous space.

Each block had a number painted on the floor. They relegated Sheptilah to the fifth cube as it had a bed in it. Rouge held her communicator up to the cube and it registered her identification and the door slid open.

"Someone will be by in the morning to collect you," Shadow said as the door shut with a hiss.

"I have a lot to talk about when that time comes." Sheptilah laid back on the bed. She tucked her book under her hair and fell into a dreamless sleep almost instantly.

"Hey, boss?" Cubot poked Ivo in his side. "It's morning." He was still slumped over his console in a deep sleep. He woke up with a snort and looked around. Had he fallen asleep while at work? And what of the woman? Ivo questioned for a moment if he dreamed her up.

He looked around for the elusive silvery lady but found no sign of her except for the bronze circlet in his hand. Cubot was still poking the rotund man in the side when Orbot came in arms flailing and yelling.

"That lady is gone!" He shouted. "I checked surveillance and she left last night, came back and then left again with Shadow and Rouge."

"Oh, _great_." Eggman looked around for his sunglasses which had fallen onto the floor, "bring me something to eat and a lot of coffee. I need that woman back as soon as possible. I need to weaponize her before GUN does." He reached for his glasses and felt his back pop as he did so. He groaned and brought up a search on his computer. Orbot and Cubot floated off to get the doctor what he asked for.

"Did you morons ever do that search I asked you to do?" He called to them.

"We forgot!" He heard Cubot call back. He sighed and began the search himself and came across some extremely short articles on the internet about them.

Abridged Encyclopedia of Mobian Indigenous Peoples

By Abdullah Moers

 **Nannae, The: [Nuh-Nay]**

Not much is known about these people except that they had disappeared suddenly five thousand years ago. Second-hand accounts, including the name of the people, from ancient texts of other cultures depict them as a servantile group of both humans and furries that used their magic granted to them by their so-called Oracle Stones embedded in their chests.

Some folklore depicts them as having been nomadic at first but finally settling in the desert to build an artificial oasis. The validity of these secondhand accounts are heavily disputed.

Some clay tablets recovered with proto-cuneiform writing at Nannae ziggurat oasis ruins in the Dust Hill desert have yet to be fully deciphered.

Doctor Eggman needed to get her back right away. As far as he was concerned it is the rule of 'finders vs keepers'. Orbot and Cubot brought him his breakfast and he wolfed down his food so he could get back to work. If he wasn't contacted soon he would have to go and retrieve his lost property himself and that gauntlet still needed fixing.

* * *

"Good morning, Miss." A buff red-furred fox in uniform tapped his knuckle on the glass to wake up Sheptilah. "The president wants to see you." He was holding some sneakers, sweatpants and a sweatshirt with the unit's logo for Sheptilah to put on.

She sat up and looked around with blurred, sleepy eyes. She stretched her back and smoothed down her messy hair.

"The president of what?" She yawned as the room came into focus.

"The president of GUN. His name is Abraham Tower." The fox answered. He opened the door for her so she could get the clothes to change into.

The fox was about to turn around so she would have privacy but instead of putting the clothes on traditionally she opted to 'poof' them on herself instantly. The rags and bathrobe she was wearing previously had vanished into nothingness. It felt good to have some of her magic back.

This startled the fox at first but then he shook his head in disbelief and escorted her to the president's chambers at the top floor.

It was much like Cabbot's office but larger and with a wide window that overlooked the choppy, storm-torn sea. Shadow and Rouge were looking out the window and talking quietly to themselves while Abraham was tapping away at his laptop on the computer. Both Shadow and Rouge's sensitive ears swivelled toward the door when they heard footsteps approach.

"Sir?" The fox knocked on the president's door.

"Come in." He said.

The fox entered with the woman who looked much perkier now that she had some sleep. Abraham stood and greeted Sheptilah by firmly shaking her hand. He looked her in the eyes and she in his. The fox had left to stand outside the president's door.

"Your eyes… they're like the earth and the ocean… they're _gorgeous_." She had never seen someone with eyes of different colors before.

"Yes, I was born with these. It's called 'heterochromia'." He was unimpressed by the flattery.

"What can I do for you, president Tower?" She let go of his hand and crossed her arms. Sheptilah could tell immediately the man was cold and standoffish.

"I'm told that you are an ancient queen and a powerful witch." Abraham went back to his desk and sat in his chair. "And that Eggman has once again started something that spells doom for our planet."

"I _was_ powerful, but not anymore." Sheptilah shrugged. Rouge and Shadow sat down in the two chairs across from Abraham and Tilly took the cue to sit in between them, but since there weren't enough chairs she sat on the 'air' with magic instead and laid her book in her lap.

"Are you talking about the witch-eaters?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Abraham said shortly.

Tilly raised her hand and slowly waved her hand in a circle, forming what looked like smoke. It took the shape of a creature in white that constantly shifted forms but overall maintained a viscous consistency. The figure was pulsing and oozing in the palm of Sheptilah's' hand and even took 'bites' out of her fingers.

"Shape shifting creatures driven purely by instinct. They ate our Oracle Stones and slowly wiped out my race. They would eat anything living, but seemed to really be after our stones. A legend was passed down through generations that it was their jealousy of our powers that drove them to kill us but this is untrue. They are merely animals that did as nature intended them to."

"There have been no reports or sightings of such creatures." Abraham frowned.

"The creatures may be weak, but they will regroup. They will multiply and they will make themselves known." The witch almost sounded like she was in a dreamy, subdued state.

They watched Sheptilah bend and move the figure she created with magic across the desk. The witch eater chased figures of humans and Mobians, some with white spots on their chest representing Oracle Stones and was shown devouring them whole.

I had a familiar…" Sheptilah stared intently at the figures she was manipulating. She wiggled her fingers to have the form show a silhouette of herself and her familiar, both with Oracle Stones, which was a armadillo woman. "Her name was Hebat and she was murdered during the final battle." Tears welled up in Tilly's eyes as the figure was torn limb from limb. "They stole my soul from me when they killed her. It's why I'm so weak."

"What's a familiar, exactly?" Shadow asked. "You mentioned the concept last night."

"A familiar is a person, place or thing that the witch in question is destined to spend their life with. They are like two individuals that share one soul. It's rare to have a nonliving familiar but it has happened. My great grandmother's familiar was the ziggurat we lived on itself. She was never able to leave it."

The figures began to take the shape of a human man with a hedgehog standing hand-in-hand and using magic.

"We pooled our powers and did great things. If all my people came together as one we could move stars if we wanted to."

She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and the figures faded.

"Tell me more about this final battle." Abraham was listening intently.

Sheptilah took in a shaky breath and made the figures appear again. This time they were entire armies of humans and furries fighting the creatures that congealed into one giant beast. One by one the witches fell except for Sheptilah and another figure with a cat furry.

"My older mother, her familiar and I managed to seal the remaining creatures in the moon since we were unable to kill them. Our magic was at a disadvantage with them; we still don't know why. We just assumed that nothing would ever happen to the moon to let them out.

Countless Nannae gave their lives to seal the creatures in the core of the satellite and only a few of us were left so they put me in a crystal in the desert in case something happened to the moon. Just as a precaution. I expected to be in that suspended state for all time."

Rouge and Shadow felt guilt wash over them. They had indirectly helped cause this by giving Eggman the Chaos Emeralds years prior. This was their fault. Rouge looked like she was about to say this but Shadow shot her a look.

"But I did not know I was going to be put in the crystal. When the survivors were sure there were no creatures left on the planet they sacrificed all of their power to seal me up. The spell was also a prophecy. 'Whomsoever should release the crystal witch will be her guardian and bound to her in the new world. They will help her destroy the creatures or die trying.'"

"Doctor Eggman had blown up the moon as an act of terrorism with a giant weapon." Rouge gently rubbed Tilly's shoulder, "How could he be the one meant to guard you?"

"I don't know why the Universe does what it does, miss Rouge… but why does the moon look whole?" She looked at the bat with sad eyes.

"Because he 'repaired' it with metal and most of the damage was to the side that doesn't face us." Shadow spoke through gritted teeth.

"Oh," Tilly sounded emotionless. After a moment of silence Abraham cleared his throat.

"Sheptilah… as tragic as this is we must inform you that you need to have some medical work done seeing as how you have been asleep for thousands of years. Today you will be seen by some doctors who will inspect you and give you vaccines. After that, we will discuss your options."

She furrowed her eyebrows, "Inspect me? Discuss my options? You cannot keep me here." She raised her voice defensively.

"We can and we will." Abraham asserted. He was unafraid. Shadow stood and faced Sheptilah ready to fight her if he had to.

Sheptilah stood and leaned over the desk and stared the man in the eye, "I am not a prisoner," she hissed, "I must prepare to fight again. It takes time and I must find a familiar, if I even have one."

"It's my duty to protect this planet and the people on it. I have to take every precaution." Tower persisted.

"I protected this planet long before your family tree was sowed!" Her anger made the desk slightly rattle. She inhaled deeply to calm herself.

"Tilly, don't get angry. It's okay." Rouge frowned at her.

"You can't escape for long anyway," Shadow held up the witch orb, "I have this, remember?"

Sheptilah glared at the hedgehog with burning violet eyes and snapped her fingers. The orb vanished from Shadow's grip and appeared between her index finger and her thumb.

"You were saying?" She smirked at the now growling hedgehog and handed the orb to Rouge for safekeeping.

"Understand this, president Tower: I am only staying for your 'inspection' out of the goodness of my heart. The moment I have had enough I will be returning to the island your two operatives pulled me from last night. I have unfinished business to attend to."

Abraham understood this woman was going to be difficult. He called for the fox to come back in and escort the three of them out to the medical wing of the fortress and two additional robotic armed guards to be with Sheptilah at all times.

Shadow and Rouge had been told to supervise the witch as they had a rapport together. Sheptilah was given a rather thorough inspection by the doctors.

X-rays proved the Oracle Stone was indeed part of her body and not ornamental. Blood tests were inconclusive and something seemed to gum up the machines but it was determined that her blood type is O-. She was administered a broad spectrum vaccine to prepare her for the new diseases of the century.

The site of the shot and blood tests on her arm was red and rashy from the contact with the steel of the needles. Even the most sterile and refined surgical instruments still contained too much iron for her to withstand without slight reaction.

Sheptilah kept up a humorous conversation with the various doctors. She was not a shy woman so she did not fight back against them when they poked and prodded her and asked her ridiculous questions about her family history. They determined she was indeed in her early thirties by her dental records and fully-fused skull. She thought the x-rays were truly a novelty. Being able to see inside someone without cutting them open was on par with magic in her opinion.

The whole time Shadow was sizing up the witch he came to understand she always started her conversations with compliments that may or may not have been sincere to lower the guard of whomever she was meeting. She often made jokes to be friendly and get people to trust her. She was manipulative and he was surprised at Rouge trusting her so quickly.

Then it came time for the final humiliation: the gynecological exam.

Shadow had stepped out of the room out of modesty but lingered by the door, not looking in.

"You've never had children?" An elderly dark-skinned woman was doing the pelvic exam and asked Sheptilah casually. Tilly was starting to miss the weird clothing they gave her earlier as she was now in a paper gown.

"No." She answered curtly.

"I didn't think so. Have you thought about having children?" She smiled sweetly at her patient. She frowned when she couldn't find the uterus and mentally kicked herself for putting her foot in her mouth.

"Also no," Sheptilah shook her head, "I'm concerned with more pressing matters."

"Is it mandatory that you have to ask these kinds of questions?" Rouge chuckled. "Or you won't get paid? So annoying! Doctors have been doing that to me since I was fourteen. Fourteen! Totally inappropriate."

The doctor waved her off with a smile, "I had birth control options, that's all."

"I actually regulate that myself. I control whether or not I can get pregnant. It's one of the few blessings of being a Nannae. Unfortunately it still requires a second person if I want to get pregnant, though." Sheptilah blushed and laughed, "Though it's often better alone!"

The three women laughed together almost to the point of gasping for air.

Shadow groaned from outside the door. He did not want to be hearing this.

"Don't be so prudish out there, Shadow; you know where babies come from." Rouge teased him.

"Ugh." Was his only response; but he was secretly glad he didn't have to go through such nonsense with doctors. Being the 'Ultimate Life Form' and all meant he never got sick.

 _Why can't everyone be reptiles and lay eggs?_ He thought to himself, _or at least monotremes._

The doctor directed Tilly to sit up as she was done with the exam. The witch poofed her sweats back on and stood up. She thanked the doctor and was escorted again by Rouge and Shadow to Abraham's office.

Sheptilah assured Tower that she told him all she knew but would need to gather supplies to build up an apothecary and find her family's royal grimoire. In it would be the instructions to recreate the weapon.

"Would the Chaos Emeralds help?" He asked her.

"I do not know what that is…" She raised an eyebrow. Such a concept never reached her people.

"Magical gemstones, seven of them, that contain infinite power when put together." Shadow nodded. "The Master Emerald controls the other seven."

"I don't remember the exact recipe for making the staff but it certainly didn't call for any strange minerals other than a specific kind of pearl." Sheptilah shrugged. "The grimoire has the whole list."

"Where is the book?" Tower was typing away on his laptop looking for any information on the ancient grimoire.

"The ziggurat, most likely-" she paused. "Honestly I'd like to go back to the island now. I have things I need to do first. Just summon me if you need me. At the moment I have to go convince my 'guardian' to behave long enough to help me. After this is all over you can do what you want with him. I'm told he's a real asshole."

Abraham mulled over the options. He determined that Sheptilah was not GUN material but would still need her to fight off the new threat.

"We can always bring her back here if need be." Rouge reminded Abraham.

"Fine," he gave in, "Gather the things you need. We will be watching you, Sheptilah."


	6. The Game Has Changed

_**This chapter contains graphic violence and gore.**_

* * *

Sheptilah was escorted from the building by armed guards so she could teleport away to Seaside Island. After concentrating on the hulking steel door to the lair she appeared and landed softly on the ground.

It was warm and bright on the island which was a welcome change from the dark and damp mountain fortress. The sun was starting to set on the horizon making the sky a rainbow of colors. She knocked on the metal door as politely as possible.

The computer console in Eggman's office lit up and showed the woman standing outside on the surveillance cameras.

"Oh!" He hopped up immediately and ran to the door to let her in after confirming she was alone. "Sheptilah!" He smiled broadly at her. Orbot and Cubot were behind him waving.

She maintained a neutral expression and went inside. She was angry with what he did but opted to show mercy since nobody could have known that blowing up the moon would result in a deadly species coming back to Mobius.

"Why were you at GUN?" He asked as he followed behind her. She was making a beeline for that heavenly sofa. She flopped down on it and stretched out, sighing contentedly.

Ivo sat next to her on the far end. Orbot and Cubot came into the room to observe.

"I was a person of interest." She sat up. "A cute bat and a grumpy hedgehog had me go with them. The doctors there gave me something called a 'vaccine'."

"I know Rouge and Shadow. Wait… you didn't _join_ GUN, did you?"

"No. They didn't even ask."

Ivo breathed a sigh of relief. Sheptilah sat with her legs crossed and turned to face him.

"Hey, boss," Orbot waved to get his attention, "It's dinner time. We only set one place, though."

"Well go and set another you idiot!" Eggman shook his fist at the little red robot. Orbot rolled his eyes and went to the dining room to set out a second plate.

"Why are you so mean to your creations?" Sheptilah squinted at him. She had no idea what the robot was saying but still thought Eggman's reaction was unwarranted.

"Because they should know better but continue to disappoint me." He stood, "It's time to eat. Follow me."

He led her to a dining room with a massive table that ran the entire length of the room with chairs on both sides. Two plates with a salad on both sat across from each other were meant for Sheptilah and Eggman. He directed her to sit and invited her to begin eating. She gratefully ate everything as she had not actually been given food at GUN Sheptilah was delighted to see that forks were still en vogue in the far future.

"How did you know I do not eat meat?" She swallowed, "I love that tomatoes are still the same flavor."

"The salad is the _appetizer_." Honestly he wished his robots would stop trying to get him to eat healthier.

"What's an appetizer?" It was kind of cute how she spoke while chewing.

"The food before you eat the real meal." He was picking at his plate, mostly moving the bits of greenery around with his fork.

"So, Doctor Eggman," she ate the last leaf off of her plate, "I'm told you're an evil dictator who murders Mobians for fun by turning them into robots and you blew up the moon."

He nearly choked on what little food he had in his mouth. He coughed a bit before swallowing and clearing his throat.

"Who told you that?" His face was red from the choking.

"The Mobians." She rested her elbows on the table and her chin on her knuckles.

"That was years ago," he tried to cover for himself, "I de-roboticized them. They're organic again. They were never _killed_."

"Why did you destroy our moon?"

"It's complicated, Sheptilah."

"I want you to know what you released when you destroyed it." She showed him the same thing she showed Team Dark and Abraham Tower. The same images of destruction and devastation.

"You did this, Ivo. You did this and you need to help me fix it."

He accidentally released a world-ending entity. _Again._

"Why should I help? I don't owe anyone anything."

"I assume you don't want to die, that's why. You can't rule over a kingdom of _corpses_."

"And why would I die? I have plenty of ways to defend myself. I have bunkers on other planets, Sheptilah. I am an extremely wealthy and intelligent man."

"You could be a hero." She cupped her hands and showed a magically projected image of Eggman beloved by all, surrounded by confetti.

"So what? I don't want to be a hero. I want to be king of the Universe."

"My people were like gods when we worked together. We could move stars. We could raise entire continents out of the sea. The creatures killed almost all of us and it only took a few generations to do it." The image of Ivo disappeared and was replaced with corpses being fed on by the creatures all strewn about, some even laid off the edge of her fingers swaying in a nonexistent breeze.

Eggman's stomach churned at the images appearing in her hands. He definitely wasn't going to eat dinner.

"Clearly we are all going to die and I am wasting time by arguing with you when I could be hightailing it out of here." He had a point.

"You have great resources and I will need every possible one I can get my hands on. Please. You will have nothing to rule if you do not assist."

Still he refused.

"I was hoping you would willingly want to help. You won't be able to leave. You're bound to me." The magical images disappeared and she laid her palms on the table.

" _Bound_ to you?"

"Yes, _you_ woke me up, so you're magically bound to _me_. It started the second you touched the reliquary. You're my guardian in this future and I don't like it, either."

She explained as succinctly as possible what it meant. They were stuck with each other because of the nature of the spell: her people wanted to guarantee their queen would be protected if she was awoken and that meant that if they were too far apart for too long it would make him sick and possibly kill him.

"Didn't you feel that something was _missing_ the whole time I was gone?"

"How do I break this bond?" He avoided the question. It's true that in her absence he felt lonely again but told himself he was mostly worried that he would have to deal with GUN's forces.

"I don't know. That would be in the family grimoire. If you want me to sever the bond I will need to get that book. It's also how I will create the weapon my family passed down, but I will have to improve on the design because the first one obviously failed."

"And where is this book?"

"The ziggurat. It should be near where you found me. It's a giant structure in the desert. You honestly cannot miss the damned thing."

Orbot came into the room in a rush."Sir!" He shouted, "There's a distress call coming from Thunderbolt the chinchilla. Her base is under attack!"

Eggman ran from the dining room with Sheptilah following behind him to his office and brought up the Eggnet webcams to look at the live surveillance from Thunderbolt's lair in Soumerca. His heart was thudding in his chest- nothing should be happening in Soumerca since the crisis involving Dark Gaia was resolved over a year prior. After the world was reformed he dissolved most of his Egg Bosses throughout Mobius only keeping Soumerca and the Deep Blue Realm as the most active and populated bases. The rest were merely fronts with less than a hundred workers in each.

He swapped between cameras showing empty rooms that were absolutely trashed. Deep claw marks in the thick steel walls sent a chill down his spine. Many of the images were unsteady and came in and out of focus. Others were pure static.

"Where is everyone?" He whispered as he tabbed through cameras and stopped when he saw the main foyer was filled with destroyed robots and a few bodies of organic workers. Bloody hand and paw prints were smudged across keyboards and computer screens.

"What is this?" Sheptilah was horrified. "Is this one of your buildings?"

"Incoming message…" The computer spoke as it brought up another live feed, this time from Thunderbolt's communicator. The image was dark and he could barely make out where it was coming from. He flipped through other cameras and saw something that seemed unable to contain its shape was tearing apart robots.

It was white and pink and sliding around as if it was made of goo. With each bit of living material it consumed it grew slightly larger.

"Lord Eggman! Lord Eggman!" He heard Thunderbolt's voice gurgle like she had water in her lungs. "Something is here and…-" Her transmission was cutting out.

"Thunderbolt? Thunderbolt what's happening?" He panicked. He would have to go rescue her himself since he had no other militants near the area capable of doing so.

"Some weird creature…" Thunderbolt coughed. "I'm hiding in a pipe, I think. I'm gravely wounded."

"That's one of the witch-eaters!" Sheptilah pointed to the screen. "Look at it! You have to take me there. I can save them from it! There's only one, I can do this."

"It sounds like she's got blood in her lungs, she's not gonna live much longer. I'm not going down there." Eggman shook his head. Thunderbolt heard what he said and wheezed.

"Lord Eggman, please… don't… let me die… Ivo..." Thunderbolt begged him.

"We won't be able to get there in time," he told both women, "It's so far away and I don't have nearly enough robots to fight back."

"Call GUN! Something!" Sheptilah took grabbed Eggman's wrist. "I can warp you there. Just show me a map of the area and I can get us there."

"But you couldn't possibly warp us there in a warship. The steel it's made out of would hinder you, right?"

The surveillance footage did not include sound but the images of humans and Mobians being torn limb from limb and devoured by the creature was enough to make even Orbot and Cubot sick.

Eggman paused for a moment and then nodded. He brought up his gauntlet to his mouth and hailed GUN's president to ask for assistance.

* * *

"I can't believe I missed out on seeing Rouge!" Knuckles was sobbing into his cheeseburger at Meh Burger's food court. Tails, Amy, Sonic and Sticks were with him. They all went out for dinner as a group often.

Amy lightly patted him on the shoulder. "She'll be back."

"I'm more concerned about that Overlander, you say she's at GUN now? I trust her even less!" Sticks slammed her fist on the table causing their drinks to almost tip over.

"The Guardian Unit of Nations are the good guys now, Sticks." Tails tried to explain it.

"No government agency is to be trusted!" Sticks was all fired up, "I especially do not trust those sneaks at the post office! There's brain-melting chemicals in the stamps they make you lick."

"There's more to the story though, isn't there?" Tails looked worried. He was ripping his napkin into tiny pieces.

"To the post office? Yes! Stay put I am gonna go get my evide-"

"No, Sticks," Tails cut her off, "More to the story with… what was her name, Sheptilah?"

Sonic was holding the witch orb in his hand and staring at it. No matter what direction he turned it the swirl in the center did not move or change angles.

"She said some race of creatures attacked and ate her kind and that she has to fight them off and that Doctor Eggman, of all people, rescued her." The blue hedgehog bit his lip in thought.

"Oh great, another threat." Tails sighed, "What did they look like? I can do a search to see if anything has happened."

"They're shape shifters." Amy watched Sonic play with the marble.

"Of course." Tails was already regretting having gotten out of bed today.

"So it could be anyone… even me!" Sticks looked around at everyone suspiciously. "If I start acting like a cannibal you have my permission to kill me."

"Yeah! You have my permission to kill Sticks!" Knuckles spoke up. "Wait! Don't kill my friend!"

Tails opened his weather worn laptop and started doing searches for news of cannibalistic activity or shape shifter reports. He found a few articles but was disappointed to see most of them were from tabloid newspapers that made their money being clickbait.

Sonic's phone chimed. He got a text from Rouge explaining that Sheptilah was back at the lair and with Doctor Eggman.

"The witch is back." Sonic said.

"We should go and talk to her and Eggman then, shouldn't we?" Tails asked.

"I don't know if he's going to cooperate," Amy sighed, "But it's worth a shot, right?"

The group threw away their trash and made their way to Eggman's lair. Just as they landed on the volcanic outcrop they saw the Doctor holding a massive laser gun and the witch with her book in hand run out the entrance in a huff with Orbot and Cubot nowhere in sight.

Sheptilah began to open a small portal to transport her and Doctor Eggman to the Soumerca base. It appeared in front of them first as a pinpoint but gradually opened up to the size of a door.

"You kids again!" Sheptilah said out of breath. "You need to leave!"

"What's going on?!" Sonic demanded.

"Don't worry about it!" Eggman yelled. "Just stay out of it." The portal opened all the way revealing the base's entrance at the other side. Eggman was the first to jump through.

"Oh no, I'm going with you!" Sonic ran through before Sheptilah could even blink.

"Are _you_ kids coming, too?" She looked exasperated.

"Yes!" they all shouted in unison.

"Then go on in quickly! I can't keep the portal open for long."

They all ran in one by one except for Sticks who was pulled in by Amy. Sheptilah jumped through and closed the portal behind her.

* * *

Shadow was relaxing with Hope and Omega on a sofa in the communal area of the fortress where the agents could unwind and socialize. They were watching a documentary together about the history of robotics and enjoying each other's company.

Rouge herself was about to get into a nice bubble bath with a good book when the call came in.

"Team Dark to the armed hangar. I repeat, Team Dark to the armed hangar." That was Cabbot's voice over the intercoms.

The group made their way quickly to the hangar where GUN kept their armed fleet. Cabbot was waiting there for them with a small plane ready to go.

"You're being deployed to Soumerca immediately. There has been activity there and Doctor Eggman and the witch woman has called for help." Boris spoke calmly.

"What's going on?" Shadow asked, he had Hope standing behind him. Cabbot handed Hope a headset and a laptop so she could listen in and monitor the trio while they were deployed. The ship's back opened to let Omega load in.

"One of those witch-eaters has appeared and is ransacking Eggman's Soumerca base. Sheptilah and Eggman are going to meet us there."

"Finally. I get to fight." Omega spoke in his tinny voice.

"I have no idea what's going on," Hope shook her head, "But you have my support."

"I'll explain everything after they take off." Cabbot nodded at the girl. "For now you should go to my office."

Rouge herself loaded into the cockpit of the ship and Shadow sat shotgun. He gave Hope a thumbs up.

"Hope, can you hear me?" Rouge spoke into her communicator on her wrist while she was powering up the plane. Cabbot and Hope left the hangar so the plane could take off.

"Loud and clear!" She responded, "All systems on the plane are appearing as OK to go."

"Let's go, then," Shadow spoke into his communicator, "We'll finish the movie when we get back, Hope."

"I can't believe you talked me into th- ack!" Eggman found himself squashed by Sonic, Knuckles and Amy who also fell out of the portal. Sticks landed on her feet and Tails flew above the pile of furries.

"Why'd you kids have to come!?" Eggman shouted as he stood, "This is definitely no place for you!"

Sonic helped Amy up.

"What's going on?" Knuckles asked.

"Stay out here, please," Sheptilah begged, "Eggman and I are going inside to fight one of those shape shifters I told you about last night. GUN's coming to help." The witch tucked her grimoire away in her hair and it disappeared much in the same way Amy's Piko Piko hammer could vanish.

"How many are in there?" Sonic looked around at the carnage. It looked like something burned a trail into the ground leading to the entrance. Robot parts and what looked like ripped clothing was strewn about but it was deadly silent.

The GUN Ship came into view. It appeared through the use of a giant warp ring and floated above them. The sudden displacement of air nearly blew everyone over.

Shadow, Rouge and Omega all bailed out of the ship but left it levitating in the air so that it couldn't be easily hijacked. Rouge landed gracefully, Omega landed with a massive thud and Shadow simply appeared.

"Who is the big guy?" Sheptilah asked.

"Omega. He's one of our robots." Shadow explained.

"I did not understand the woman's words," Omega said, "But I do understand we have to kill things, and that is my primary language."

The gigantic base was on lockdown. Eggman went up to the console and was trying to get into the base by overriding the security settings. The bulk of the computers inside the base were all destroyed and he couldn't get them remotely turned on or restarted.

"Let me try-" Tails began to say but was interrupted.

"Move!" Knuckles pushed Eggman aside and punched the console as hard as he could. It shattered into pieces and sparked- but it got the job done. The hulking doors slid open and out wafted the stench of decomposition from a long, dark hallway.

Parts of Mobians, Overlanders and robots were all strewn about. The corpses had been rotting there for days .

"Holy _shit._ " Was all Eggman could say.

"I need all of you to stay out here. Rouge, Omega and I are going in to stop the beast." Shadow directed them. Rouge and Knuckles choked on the fetid air and moved away from the door.

Amy and Sticks had to avert their eyes. They had never seen this kind of violence before.

It took all of Tails' willpower to not vomit right there.

"No way," Sonic defied Shadow at any chance he could, "I'm going with you." He pulled his brown bandana over his nose to keep from choking on the smell of death.

Eggman turned his laser gun on and it emitted a high pitched whine.

"Those creatures are really hard to defeat with magic, even harder with brute force. I'm going to go rescue any survivors. Shadow, Rouge and Omega please do what you can to fight off the monster. Summon me with the witch orb if you can't defeat it. It's a small one but the more it eats the bigger it gets.

Sonic, you can come with me and Doctor Eggman as part of a rescue mission. The rest of you stay out here and let us know if you see anything, okay?" Sheptilah used magic to shorten her hair to a chin-length bob.

"Yes, ma'am." Tails said.

"Sounds good to me, too." Rouge nodded.

"I'm not arguing." Knuckles gagged. Amy and Sticks nodded.

"Sonic, be careful." Amy begged. Sonic winked to reassure her.

"Orbot, Cubot, do you read me?" Eggman spoke into his gauntlet. The two lackeys were back at the lair manning the console.

"Loud and clear, boss!" Cubot chimed.

"Orbot, I want you to do a search for survivors and broadcast it to me on the map." Eggman brought up the map of the base on his gauntlet and sent copies to Omega wirelessly.

"Well, it's moving but it looks like it's back in the industrial wing," Cubot sounded nervous, "Where the bombs are made."

"Let's go, then! As fast as we can!" Sheptilah ran in the entrance.

"You said the magic words!" Sonic sped ahead of her in a blue flash.


	7. Devil's Den

_**This chapter contains brief violence and gore.**_

* * *

Shadow teleported Rouge and Omega via Chaos Control to where the beast was.

The massive wing was lined with aisles like goods at a wholesale store with various sized warheads. The walls had cutesy signs with safety slogans over Eggman's smiling logo:

 **LOOSE LIPS SINK WARSHIPS**

 **NO EATING OR DRINKING PERMITTED**

 **DO NOT PLAY ON OR AROUND THE AMMUNITION**

Lights flickered overhead making it extremely difficult to spot the monster whose size kept fluctuating from the size of a loaf of bread to the height of the ceiling. It left a slimy, winding trail of congealed blood and crude oil and the residue began to dissolve the metal floor ever so slightly.

The trio could see that the creature had no eyes or mouth between shapes and yet it seemed to be aware of its surroundings and able to eat. It was struggling to maintain a form and transformed between the appearances of the robots and the various Mobians that worked in the base.

It seemed to be inspecting the weapons, unsure of what they were. It moved almost silently except for the occasional 'sloshing' noise when it moved and changed shape.

Omega wirelessly connected to the computer servers for the base and scanned the bombs.

"Boo. No firearms," Omega chirped as he withdrew his massive guns, "Every bomb in this room is petrol-based and armed. None are nuclear. According to the data this place has been under siege for five days by the beast. The first thing it did was cut every communication method off and trapped them inside."

"Great," Rouge commented, "So it's smart. We have to lead it out of this room or we're all going to be jelly."

"I will be fine." Omega said flatly.

"The witch said brute force doesn't work on these things… I wonder if Chaos energy is effective." Shadow teleported to be in front of the beast. Just as he was going to use a very precisely aimed Chaos spear the monster roared at him and dashed out of the way and toward Rouge.

The bat jumped up and used her screw kick attack on the beast. The creature split itself in half in order to dodge her attack and instead aimed for Omega.

The hulking robot grabbed the two halves of the beast and tried to hold it but the creature dribbled through his hands and turned to attack Rouge. Shadow teleported in front of Rouge and used a Chaos spear on the beast and nearly missed. The golden electricity that came from the hedgehog's hand crackled in the air leaving the distinctive smell of ozone behind as it hit the gooey creature.

The creature howled in pain and tried to get away but to no avail. Shadow shot it again and again with Chaos energy until it finally collapsed into a disgusting puddle of slime.

Omega looked at his arms and saw the metal was slightly sizzling. "Eggman, the threat is neutralized." Omega picked up the tiniest of movements from the creature. The ooze was only _playing_ dead. It inched slowly toward Shadow's metal shoes and began to eat away at the metal soles.

"Omega? The beast is dead?" Doctor Eggman spoke from his gauntlet to the robot.

"Down, Shadow!" Omega saw the beast twitch and instinctively fired a small rocket at it to protect his comrade. The projectile ricocheted as the beast dodged it and hit one of the smaller bombs. The resulting explosion was relatively small however one bomb lit up another and the chain reaction set off the sprinkler system above which tried to douse the fire but to no avail.

"Omega!" Rouge shouted. "This whole place is gonna blow!"

" _Seriously?!_ " Shadow was bewildered at the recklessness.

"I perfectly calculated and I did not hit you, so why are you angry?" Omega said.

"We're reading a massive temperature spike in your area." Hope shouted into her headset. The ship was scanning the base and feeding the data back to her computers, "What's going on down there?"

"Technical difficulties," Omega responded to Hope as Team Dark was fleeing from the bomb room, "Target is neutralized. Scanning for survivors now… puny Orbot reports there is a cluster of people in the lowest level."

The trio had left the creature in the room to burn to death. More and more bombs started going off shaking the premises.

"You two go find the others and get the _Hell_ out of here. I'm going to get the survivors out." Shadow teleported to the basement and found dozens of weakened Egg army soldiers crowded behind a barricaded door. They were all emaciated and dehydrated from being trapped there for days. He grabbed them five at a time and deposited them outside where Sonic's friends were waiting.

Sonic skipped over the junked robots and zigzagged between corpses checking for life on the ones that were less obviously decayed. He thought he heard something moved and ran to the uniformed body of a cat Mobian. He bent down and gently rolled the body over and saw that it no longer had a face. Exposed bone and decayed flesh hanging from the eye sockets was all that was left. Sonic shrieked. He was going to have nightmares for _months_.

Just one survivor was all Sonic wanted to find. _One._

The hedgehog backed up into the wall with his hands pressed flat against it and shut his eyes. He took several shuddering breaths before he regained his composure, or so he thought.

Eggman was struggling to keep up, his body was fighting him on exerting itself. "Sonic?" He turned to the corpse and winced, kicking it over with the toe of his boot so the rotted face was no longer visible to them. "Jesus."

"I thought they were alive," Sonic's forehead was damp with sweat, "I thought they were alive… I've never seen a corpse like that before."

Sheptilah gently cupped Sonic's cheeks with her hands. "It's okay," she stroked his face with her thumbs, "You're okay. There's nothing you can do for a dead body. It's okay. A dead body can't hurt you."

"I know but..." Sonic inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "I thought they were alive and … ugh."

"Yeah." Tilly said sympathetically. "The witch-eaters do that. I can send you back home if you can't do this."

"I can do this! I have to do this. I just got spooked, that's all."

Sonic's breath hitched trying to stifle sobs. Normally he wouldn't dare allow anyone, especially Eggman, see him so shaken but in this extreme situation there was no shame in it.

Ivo groaned and looked upon the hedgehog with pity. "Shake it off, Sonic! We're on a time limit here."

Sheptilah shot him a glare while Sonic looked up at the Overlander with wide, exhausted eyes.

"He's just a kid, you asshole." She frowned.

"What? We have a mission to do." Ivo shrugged.

"He's right; we have living people to save." Sonic swallowed hard and lifted himself from the wall. He shook off the tension, making his spikes rattle against themselves.

"Go straight and then take a left down that hallway; that's where Thunderbolt's vent is according to Orbot's map. Take Sheptilah with you."

"How am I supposed to keep up wi- AH!" She was startled when Sonic simply picked her up and ran with her in his arms as per Eggman's directions. "You are a lot brawnier than you look, kid!"

"I'm just full of surprises!" He turned to find a door that was shut and set Sheptilah down on her feet.

"How are we getting in?" Sheptilah felt around for a key or a button that would let them in.

"Watch it." Sonic nudged her out of the way and turned into his spin-dash form and ripped a small jagged hole in the thin metal door. Sonic unfurled and stepped inside after Sheptilah squeezed in but lightly scraped her arm on a sharp edge. The pain was searing all up her arm due to the metal allergy but she did not bring attention to this as it was a minor cut.

"Thunderbolt?" Sonic called, "Thunderbolt!?" It was a smaller room meant to store office supplies. Many of the boxes were turned over revealing their contents: light bulbs, duct tape and paper towels were the most common items. A haphazard pile of crates leading up to a wall vent in the corner had small hand prints stained with blood showed Thunderbolt climbed them not that long ago.

Fresher blood stains covered older, flaky ones on the wall under the vent opening.

Sonic jumped up and ripped the vent cover off the wall and climbed inside. It was a tight squeeze but he was able to flatten his spines enough to fit in.

"Is she in there?" Sheptilah called. She took off the glamour hiding her absurdly long hair in preparation of healing the wounded Mobian.

"There's a blood trail, it leads further down. I think I can hear her breathing." Sonic was crawling on his elbows and knees now and squinting in the darkness.

"S-Sonic?" A very quiet voice spoke. "I'm here."

It was almost heartbreaking for Sonic to hear the very feisty chinchilla barely able to even whisper. Then again, she did try to kill him and his friends a few times, so maybe she deserved this. _No,_ he shook that thought from his mind, _nobody deserves this._

"I'm coming!" Sonic turned a corner and found Thunderbolt lying on her back. Her cybernetics were destroyed and her normally extremely soft fur was caked in blood. Her nose and mouth were leaking a slightly pink foam. She was definitely drowning in her own blood. Slowly.

" _Fuck_ ," she wheezed, "Why you?"

Sonic looked down at her and saw she had a proportionately deep cut in her torso and he could see a part of her ribs was exposed from skin that was pulled away like a flap.

"God, oh God, oh God..." He was started to panic. He spoke into his wrist communicator hailing for his friends waiting outside.

"Guys?"

"Sonic!" They all shouted in unison.

"Wh- what do I do if someone… if their insides are outside but they're not dead?" His voice was shaky.

"What?" Amy's face contorted with horror. "Who is hurt?"

"It's Thunderbolt." He swallowed hard.

"How much of her inside is outside?" Sticks spoke. Her years in the jungle made her somewhat of an expert in on-the-fly medical care.

"Just… I see a bit of bone; maybe a rib? It's across her torso. Oh God- I can see her lungs moving." He felt queasy.

"T- tie your bandana around her torso and carry her to the witch." Tails tried to be as calm as possible when giving first aid directions but his voice was cracking.

"Okay… okay." He took off his bandana and gingerly tied it around Thunderbolt's stomach. "I'm gonna pick you up, okay? I am getting you out of here, T.B."

"Sonic?" Sheptilah's voice echoed, "Are you okay?"

"She's alive! I'm coming." He called back to her.

"Don't touch me," Thunderbolt spat, "I'm proud to die for Eggman." She weakly coughed between words.

"He's here; he came for you." He gently tucked her in his arm and prepared to turn around to crawl back to Sheptilah.

"Take me to him." She shut her eyes and welcomed death. She would never admit it but she was grateful to be laying against Sonic's soft fur.

Sonic tried to turn around but found he couldn't. He was too tall to simply turn and his barbs wouldn't let him crawl backwards out of the vent. Sonic tried to push through the pain but the sheer agony of his spines being pulled out of their roots was like fire burning each and every nerve ending he had.

"Sheptilah, I'm stuck! I have to keep crawling forward. Meet me at the other opening."

"Where?" She was more lost than he was.

"Just follow my voice!" Sonic crawled forward on his knees and elbow and held tightly to Thunderbolt. He could see the light coming in from the nearest vent opening and moved as fast as he could toward it. His sensitive nose also picked up the faint smell of bleach.

Eggman finally caught up to Sheptilah and helped her out of the hole Sonic cut in the door. That was when the whole building rattled.

"What was that?" Eggman spoke into his gauntlet.

"I set off some bombs." Omega responded.

"The creature is neutralized. I'm collecting survivors now. Some were hiding in a basement, it's about thirty people." Shadow's voice was almost a comfort to Eggman, "But the bombs are still going off. You need to get out _now_."

"Sonic's got Thunderbolt and he's moving forward to the next vent opening. Where is that?" The witch's hands were shaking.

"This way." He led her to the next room down the long hallway which was a public unisex bathroom. The walls were tiled a pristine white and the floors were shiny and black with inlaid glitter specks. It was like walking on outer space itself.

There was no door to this room- instead zigzagging partitions offered privacy when entering.

Sonic stuck his fingers through the vent opening above the sinks trying to push it open but he couldn't get the leverage.

"I can't get it open," The hedgehog shouted.

"Stop yelling! I see you. Hold on." Eggman leaned his gun against the wall, reached up and ripped the cover off almost effortlessly. He threw the grate down with a metallic clang that hurt Sheptilah's ears.

He held his hand up so he could take Thunderbolt and so Sonic could get out. Eggman handed off the chinchilla to Sheptilah who looked over the little yellow puff with pity.

"Eggman, I am never going to complain about fighting your robots again." Sonic stuck his head out and was trying to figure out how to get down. Ivo grabbed the hedgehog by the underarms and pulled him out and set him down gently on the floor. Sonic threw the human a thumbs-up as thanks.

The witch wrapped her hair around Thunderbolt's tiny body and concentrated hard. It's one thing to heal little cuts but it's another to repair entire organs. The chinchilla shivered from the ice cold sensation of the magic and opened her eyes. When things came into focus she saw the violet-eyed woman staring down at her with her lips in a thin frown.

"Am I dead?" Thunderbolt wondered. "This doesn't look like Hell…"

"Thunderbolt?" Eggman gently poked the little rodent on the forehead.

" _Am I in heaven?_ " the chinchilla's face flushed until she saw Sonic. "Never mind, I'm alive."

"You gave us a scare," the blue hedgehog put a hand on Sheptilah's shoulder, "This witch saved you." The building rumbled again, this time it was louder.

"Is she related to Regina?" Thunderbolt was asking about Snively's former lover and techno witch the Iron Queen. She squirmed in Tilly's arms when another rumble went off.

"No, I'll explain later." Eggman said. "It's time to go."

"What's the fastest way out of here?" Sonic was bouncing on the balls of his feet. They were deep in the building and the rumbling got louder and the quakes shook the building enough that it nearly knocked them over.

"I hear voices." Rouge spoke from outside and poked her head into the bathroom. "Hey!"

"Rouge!" Tilly smiled. "You're okay!"

"I'm tough as diamonds, sweetheart." She winked.

Omega led them out of the base through the most direct route which incidentally was blowing a giant hole through the walls with Eggman's laser gun. Even the thickest steel walls melted away like butter under its blasts. Omega silently made a note to steal that gun for himself when the doctor wasn't looking.

The man was becoming exhausted now and found it very difficult to go on. With every labored breath his muscles burned. Tilly took his hand and gave him a magical boost so he wouldn't collapse from exertion. It was like drinking four espressos at once!

Thunderbolt was scandalized that some hussy touched her beloved overlord. The ferocious chinchilla decided, however, she'd hold onto her anger for later use when she could exact revenge.

Finally everyone who wasn't dead or destroyed was out of the building. Sheptilah set down Thunderbolt and began to tend to the survivors who were grateful that a rescue came at all. The ends of her hair were stained pink from all of the bloody wounds she healed with it.

Sonic's friends immediately group hugged him and happy that he was okay. Amy showered Sonic's cheeks with rapid fire kisses.

All of his emotions poured out and he began to cry from relief. His tears causes his friends to sob in return and soon they were all a pile of wet cheeks, choked laughs and pained smiles.

"Don't cry, Faker." Shadow approached the group. "You did well today." Shadow's praises made Sonic sob harder but the ebony hedgehog couldn't understand why.

He felt pity for Sonic and his friends for having to see those horrors.

"Get in here, buddy!" With a swipe of Knuckles' muscular arm Shadow was drawn into the hug and loved against his will.

"Ack! Knuckles!" Sonic cried out. "We love you too, man, but you are making it hard to breathe!"

Rouge giggled and snapped a photo of this to tease Shadow with from now until the heat death of the Universe.

Knuckles felt satisfied and let them all go. He approached Rouge to talk but chickened out and went back to Tails to discuss how they were getting home.

Tails went up to Sheptilah and sheepishly asked her if she could open up another portal to let them go home.

"Absolutely," she looked around, "I just need to find a quiet place to do it."

Thunderbolt looked on at the commotion with hatred in her heart. How dare Eggman threaten to leave her to die and how dare he send Sonic and some woman to save her? She was disgusted and humiliated. She took off Sonic's bandanna and threw it on the ground, digging her heel into it.

Eggman saw this and approached the chinchilla. "Omega told me that you survived in there with that thing for five days," Eggman looked down at the angry Mobian, "You're an excellent addition to my army."

All of her fire instantly melted away. "Really?"

Eggman nodded. Thunderbolt nearly jumped three feet into the air from excitement.

"President Tower is sending emergency vehicles to pick up the survivors," Hope spoke with relief in her voice. "He wants everyone moving as far away from the building as possible."

"Understood," Rouge said, "Anything else?"

"He wants you to bring Sheptilah, Thunderbolt and Eggman back with you immediately for questioning." Hope remotely lowered the plane so that Omega could board.

"Do you want Sonic, too? He helped us directly." Rouge asked.

"Hold on…" A pause and then: "Tower says yes." Hope confirmed.

"Team Dark, you're ordered to come back to base with Doctor Eggman, Thunderbolt, Sheptilah and Sonic the hedgehog immediately," President Tower spoke into their communicators.

Just then the emergency vehicles had arrived via warp ring overhead and hovered close to the ground to load in the survivors to be taken to the hospital wing at GUN's fortress. The displacement of air was greater this time and sent the bulk of the people standing on the ground flying a few feet back.

Rouge and Shadow escorted Eggman and Thunderbolt onto the plane first and Shadow stayed behind to make sure they wouldn't get up to anything troublesome. Shadow had immediately confiscated the laser gun and handed it to Omega for safekeeping. If the robot could smile he would grin from ear to ear. What a great day!

Rouge went up to Sonic's friends and Sheptilah to get them going as well.

Eggman sat with Thunderbolt in his arms and she couldn't have been any happier. She was almost _purring_.

"Wait, hold on," Sheptilah had trouble lifting her wounded arm but managed to open a small portal for the Mobians to return to Seaside Island.

"Thank you, miss!" Tails said as he hopped in. He was followed by Amy, Sticks and Knuckles after saying their goodbyes to Sonic.

"Don't let them make you lick any stamps, Sonic." Sticks warned.

Sheptilah closed the portal and nodded to Rouge that she was ready to go back to the GUN fortress.


	8. I'm In Over My Head

Initially Doctor Eggman and Thunderbolt were put into separate guarded interrogation rooms while Sonic and Sheptilah were questioned jointly by Boris Cabbot.

The rooms were small and only contained some uncomfortable chairs and an empty table. Oppressively bright fluorescent lighting beamed down on them, making it hard to focus.

There was nothing Sonic could tell them that they did not already know through Team Dark. He stared at his filthy gloves while talking non-stop so he wouldn't have to see the images of the corpses in his mind again.

Thunderbolt absolutely _refused_ to divulge any information to GUN out of loyalty for the Egg army. She stood on the table and threatened to physically attack anyone who came near her.

President Tower just stared daggers into the tiny rodent. He was not afraid of her and did not take her threats seriously knowing her cybernetic weapon was disabled. He turned to the guard and asked them to escort in Eggman.

The nervous Overlander was brought in with high powered weapons pressed into his back and his cuffed hands raised.

"I don't appreciate being forced to play musical chairs right now." He complained then understood when he saw Thunderbolt.

"Sit, Doctor." Tower directed him.

"I prefer to _stand_."

"Very well. Your underling refuses to discuss what she saw." Tower sat back down in the interrogator's chair.

"T.B., just tell them what happened." The mustached doctor urged her from the corner.

The yellow chinchilla growled and finally gave in.

"We did not know anything was wrong until it was too late," she began. "Whatever it was it snuck in on one of our robots. It did something to our computers and jammed all of our signals, automatically locking us in." Thunderbolt's ears and tail twitched with agitation. Her eyes darted between Eggman's and Tower's.

"We fought so hard for _days_ to get ourselves out of the base. Nobody was answering our distress calls. Eventually after three days we found out that it was some monster attacking us.

We then followed safety protocol and made our way to the lowest point of the Egg base. Myself and several others attempted to fight it off but it just kept _changing_."

She paused to catch her breath.

"That thing ate through my mecha. It learned to dodge and it learned to attack the organics and not the robots. _It sliced me open with a piece of metal!_ "

The chinchilla huffed, "I held myself together, literally, and ran. I ran for the glory of the Eggman Empire! I found a vent to crawl in and wait it out. I didn't even feel pain. I felt nothing."

"How did you get communication back up?" Tower stared intently at her fiery green eyes.

Thunderbolt turned to him and hissed. "There was a brief power outage before the emergency generators came on. In that time I was able to get a message out."

* * *

Sheptilah tried her hardest to look at the screen but every so often she had to look away from the carnage. She didn't understand any of what was happening. Was she wrong? Did she remember it incorrectly? _The creatures were never able to eat through metal,_ she kept telling herself, _that's why we sealed it in the core of the moon. The iron core._

Team Dark, Sonic and Cabbot were in the media room watching footage from the battle lifted from both Omega and the Eggnet with Sheptilah there to offer her insights. Cabbot seemed to have his eyes fixed on the witch the entire time.

Hope was scanning through the various files on her laptop with a coffee in hand and a furrowed brow.

"While Eggman's Soumercian base is now a smoking crater, we have no way of actually going in and getting a sample of the beast so we could do a scan to find more lifeforms just like it. The parts of Omega that it touched didn't leave any actual residue, just damage." Hope looked exhausted as she spoke to the group and took another sip of her drink.

It was so much to take in: she had just learned about the witch and the moon. Sonic and his friends had just sealed Dark Gaia in the core of the planet. Now they had to deal with a monster _released from the core of the moon_. It never stops.

"The thing seemed to be seriously hurt by Chaos energy," Shadow sat next to Sonic, "Does this mean we have to gather the Chaos Emeralds again?"

"President Tower hasn't ordered that yet but it is never a bad idea to have the Emeralds all in one safe place." Boris shrugged.

"Just once I'd like to have a week where the whole world isn't threatened by crazy things," Sonic chuckled nervously, "Just one."

"It was… _never_ able to do this before," Sheptilah said, "Eat through metal, I mean. I also do not know about the Chaos Emeralds or what that entails, Shadow."

"It's possible the monsters have begun learning," Rouge's heels clicked as she stepped forward to turn off the video feed as it was beginning to loop, "Which means getting that royal grimoire you spoke of is a priority, Sheptilah."

"I still need to charge," the witch rubbed her eyes, "I hardly have any energy. Sleeping helps but I need to actually lay out in the moonlight."

"You seemed to do just fine earlier today." Shadow huffed.

"Yes, well, you should see me at full power," she shot him an angry look, "Glamours and local portals are nothing. Nannaic children can do them before they can walk."

"I don't think that matters," Rouge looked at her phone, "It's already eight in the morning on Tuesday. We completely missed the night."

Sheptilah slumped back in her chair and dragged her hand down her face.

"So where is this 'grim-more'?" Sonic asked to break the tension.

"The ziggurat." Sheptilah turned to look at the blue hedgehog.

"What the heck is a ziggurat?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"It's like a step pyramid but larger." Hope answered, "Entire cities could fit in them. From a distance they look like mountains."

"Right. Ours was in the middle of the desert Ivo had pulled me from. It was an artificial oasis we had built for travelers to stay in." Sheptilah elaborated on Hope's description.

The blonde girl pondered for a moment and then brought up some satellite imagery of the Dust Hill zone.

"Most of this area remains unexplored but we cannot possibly miss a structure so big from space…" she flipped through images until she found something, "There. The Nannae ruins, right?"

"Yes, but I remember it being green and blue- water flowing like waterfalls down the sides and plants of all kinds in bloom. It looks so naked now." Sheptilah shook her head.

"I'm sure it was beautiful," Boris commented, "When this is all over I would like to see it restored." He smiled at the witch sweetly.

Rouge tried to stifle a laugh; was her boss _flirting?_ Shadow rolled his eyes at Rouge's behavior but she couldn't help it. Rouge thought it was cute how he looked at her whenever she was in the room.

"When should we leave for the ruins?" Sonic spoke in a small voice.

" _'We'?_ What is this 'we'? You can't come." Shadow shook his head. "This is GUN business."

He couldn't believe Sonic's audacity. One of these days the cobalt speedster was going to get himself killed.

"Shads, you can't do everything by yourself," Sonic stood, "I'm involved now, too." He was the hero of Mobius and it would take more than that to stop him from helping. He saved the world so many times he lost count; what is one more time? If Sonic wrote memoirs they'd be a collector's set you'd have to dedicate your entire bookshelf to.

"No you aren't," Sheptilah grabbed the blue hedgehog's wrist and gently pulled him back into a sitting position, "You gotta stay on the island and keep an eye out for more of those… _things_."

Rouge smiled. "I agree with Miss Witch. You gotta sit this one out, Sonic."

Well, _that_ stopped him.

"I will talk with President Tower about getting to the ruins as soon as possible. In the meantime you should all go home and rest. All of you. Omega is already undergoing repairs." Boris escorted them to the door, "Except for you, Sheptilah. I want to have a word with you."

Shadow and Rouge left for their dorms with Hope but instructed Sonic to stay and wait for the witch to warp him home. The cobalt hedgehog rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall wondering why Shadow couldn't just teleport him back to the island himself.

"I didn't see anything of note while trudging with the witch and the hedgehog through the corpses," Eggman began, "However I will say this: you are all incredibly lucky to have me on your side in this matter."

"If you have Lord Eggman's support then you have mine by proxy," Thunderbolt stood.

Tower looked over the two rogues without much care. "We will contact you when we need you or the witch."

Boris waited for the others to leave before he approached Sheptilah who was now leaning against the wall and closed the door.

"I need to ask you a personal favor and it must stay between us," he let his eyes drop to the floor, "My wife is dying of renal failure. Can you heal her?"

"Renal failure?" She brushed her blood-stained hair behind her ear to buy time while her Oracle Stone translated, "Hh, the kidneys."

"Yes. Can you heal her?" His eyes were pleading. "She is in a private hospital room in this building. I can take you now."

"Sir…" Sheptilah began, "I would be happy to but…"

"But what?"

She hesitated. If she saved one person from death then they would all want to be healed. It wouldn't be fair to tell one person yes but another no. Her entire race was a servile one made to care for the planet and the things that lived on it. Sheptilah was so tired both emotionally and physically. She did not have the energy to spare.

"Why must it remain secret?" Sheptilah raised a white eyebrow.

"The president may think I'm abusing you for my own gain," his polished shoes were suddenly the most fascinating thing he ever laid eyes on, "And we cannot owe favors."

She felt sympathy for the old man.

Sheptilah extended a cold hand and pressed her fingers under his chin to bring his eyes up to hers. She smiled broadly, "I can do that and you will owe me nothing. However there _is_ a caveat."

"What is it?" His voice was cracking.

"You have to wait a day or two while I charge. I do not have the energy right now."

"That's alright," he smiled, forcing his crow's feet to become more pronounced, "She's been waiting years for a kidney transplant. Another day or two will be fine."

Sheptilah nodded briskly and left the media room. Boris lingered for a while in the silence.

Tilly saw Sonic was waiting and was about to greet him but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"There you are!" Eggman called. He was walking down the hallway in a huff with Thunderbolt and armed Mobians at his side, "I was told you were here."

"Doctor Eggman," Sheptilah smiled, "And the brave warrior Thunderbolt. I'm glad to see they don't have you both in chains."

"I _was_ cuffed briefly. After they took my weapons they let me go under the condition I have loaded weapons pressed into my flesh at all times."

"Did they hurt you?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"I just want to get out of here before I run into my niece," he scratched his cheek, "I'm sure she has several choice words for me." He also wanted to get the Hell out of there before they decided to re-arrest him for his war crimes.

"I was directed to go home so I assume that means I'm staying with you tonight, Doctor Eggman." Sheptilah yawned behind a fist.

That was the last straw to Thunderbolt. That witch had to go. She had half a mind to take a good chunk out of that woman's leg and show her who's boss.

"You could stay at my place." Sonic offered. Thunderbolt's head whipped around to the blue hedgehog and she felt hopeful that she'd get to crash at Eggman's place alone.

"I shouldn't be too far apart from my bound guardian right now but thank you, Sonic. I need to warp us all back to the island now. We should go outside." Sheptilah eyed the armed guards suspiciously.

 _Drat,_ the angry yellow puff thought, _guardian!?_

"Where are you going, miss Thunderbolt?" The witch leaned down and grinned.

"That's Egg Boss Thunderbolt to _you_ , Overlander." The blonde puff snapped. Sheptilah was taken aback by the tiny one's rudeness.

"She's coming with us back to my lair. I have to make repairs to her cybernetics." Eggman yawned too, "Don't mind her, Sheptilah, she's just tired. We all are."

The armed guards escorted all four of them outside so that Sheptilah could open a portal. The sunlight was warm and blinding in the early morning and the ocean surrounding the fortress shimmered. Sheptilah ran her fingers along the air and felt for something. She finally snagged a fingernail on it and opened what looked like a mirror to the island lair gateway.

Sonic jumped in first and landed cleanly on his feet and sped off to the shore. He ran on the water as if it was solid. His sheer intensity left a rainbow glittering in the droplets behind him. The first thing he did when he got home was take the longest, hottest shower he ever had in his life.

"I'm not going in there," Thunderbolt protested, "Doctor Eggman you are the wisest, smartest man ever to walk Mobius but do you really trust a _witch?_ The troll twins Wendy and Walter come to mind."

"I do not have time for this right now." Eggman bent down and picked up Thunderbolt by the base of her tail between his thumb and index finger and carried her into the portal. She instinctively froze as chinchillas picked up by the tail are wont to do. Sheptilah soon followed and closed the opening behind her.

"Doesn't that hurt her?" the witch asked while Eggman gently set Thunderbolt on the ground. The chinchilla was puffed up and outraged beyond belief. Her face was red with embarrassment and yet she didn't find Eggman's touch unwelcome; even if it was from lifting her like a purse.

"Nah," he chuckled, "Not as long as you pick them up by the very base of the tail and don't swing them like a lasso." He opened the door for them and was greeted by Orbot and Cubot who had lots to complain about.

"You let your dinner get cold," Orbot sulked, "I worked so hard on it."


	9. I Want It All

It was another warm, sunny day at Seaside Island but it wouldn't last. Gray clouds in the distance foretold of a heavy thunderstorm.

Ivo himself had asked the women to get along; although he was speaking almost exclusively to Thunderbolt. He promised the chinchilla he would repair her cybernetics after he slept; citing that working while exhausted would end poorly for her.

Sheptilah wandered into the kitchen to retrieve fruit to eat. A bright green granny smith apple sat alone in the basket on the counter, beckoning her to take it. Thunderbolt followed the woman to look for some food for herself as Doctor Eggman had retired to his room to nap for the day without offering her anything.

"What is your game, witch?" Thunderbolt snarled. "I demand you tell me."

The woman took a bite of the apple and chewed it while staring the chinchilla in the eye with a blank face.

"Tell me!" Thunderbolt stomped her foot. She did not deserve such disrespect from an _Overlander_.

"I'm an ancient witch queen and I have to save this damned planet," she swallowed her food, "And I am very tired." Not wishing to engage any further Sheptilah made her way to the door to find the bathroom. Thunderbolt dashed to block her way.

"I want to make one thing very clear, human," she bared her razor-sharp teeth, "Eggman is _mine_."

"In what capacity?" she stepped over the Mobian and walked off not expecting an answer only to be followed by Thunderbolt through the lair.

"We are lovers," the blonde puff stated matter-of-factly, "Or we will be."

"Wouldn't that kill you?" Sheptilah was humoring this nonsense for her personal entertainment. Sure, in her culture some humans and clever folk were married and even adopted children together but certainly not with a size discrepancy that would end in certain death.

Thunderbolt jogged after Sheptilah who had found the extremely sterile and minimalist bathroom. All it contained was a clawfoot tub in white, a toilet and a sink.

Sheptilah ran the water to its hottest setting.

"What do you mean?" The chinchilla was out of breath.

The witch turned her head and looked at the Mobian. "Seriously?"

Thunderbolt's cheeks turned red. She crossed her arms and looked away. "I didn't think that far." That was all she could come up with as an excuse.

Eggman's entire lair was state-of-the-art and this included the bath facilities. The tub filled within minutes and wonderfully scented soap was mixed in with the water from the faucet. All Sheptilah had to do was get in. She pulled off her clothes directly in front of Thunderbolt, completely unbothered by being seen naked. The witch stepped into the tub and sank into the bubbles with a deep, long sigh.

Thunderbolt saw this as Sheptilah flaunting her human body. She became enraged and desperately wished her cybernetics weren't destroyed so she could electrocute the human to death. She wanted to watch that snooty little 'queen' shriek in pain and then pawn off that shiny bauble on her chest before her body went cold.

The human was scrubbing the blood from her hair when Thunderbolt jumped on the edge of the tub and was prepared to scratch out Sheptilah's eyes when the witch split the apple in half and offered an unbitten piece to the chinchilla.

Thunderbolt was taken aback by this and pushed the witch's hand out of the way.

"I have no interest in anyone, miss Thunderbolt," Sheptilah offered the apple again, "I know I will not be alive at the end of this."

"Why?" Thunderbolt was suspicious of both the apple piece and her assurance of death. A queen witch offering an apple was never a good thing, especially not to darling and gorgeous 'princesses' like Thunderbolt.

"That thing you encountered this week was a monster from my time. We tried our hardest to fight it but it killed all of them but me. I was sealed in a crystal until I was rescued by your Doctor Eggman." Sheptilah ate the last of her share of the fruit, "I expect that destroying them for all time would kill me. It nearly did the first time and I had the help of hundreds of my kind.

"Because of this, he is my guardian. We're bound at the soul by the magic that sealed me in the reliquary. He wants to sever this bond, which is fine, so that means we have to go dig up the family grimoire from the desert to learn how to do it."

Thunderbolt sat on the outside edge of the tub and snatched the apple piece from Sheptilah's bony fingers and greedily munched away at it. She was very hungry and made quick work of the slice.

"What does it mean to be bonded?" She wanted to know as much as she could about this witch as possible to formulate a plan of attack.

"My people wanted to make sure I wasn't alone in the future so whoever woke me up was connected to me. If we're apart for too long the guardian will become sick and die. It's really a stupid plan but I didn't cast the spell so _whatever_." Sheptilah was rubbing soap on her arm where the iron had scraped her. It was still puffy and red. Although the skin was not broken it was very aggravated.

"What happened there?" Thunderbolt asked with her cheeks full.

"Iron makes me sick." She brushed her hair out of her face and behind her ear. "A scrape or a cut makes me ill. I can't use my magic well if I'm in a big iron box like this lair, either. That's why I'm fine with severing the bond. I really need to get out of this prison."

 _Ah._ Perhaps Thunderbolt had misjudged the woman. If I have any weaknesses, she thought to herself, it's that I love Doctor Eggman too much. I'm just overprotective.

She stored away that little tidbit about the iron in the evilest corner of her brain. If the witch became uppity she could simply hop over to a pharmacist, pick up an iron supplement and murder the woman from the inside out.

She imagined Sheptilah's face becoming puffy and ugly; eyes and ears leaking with blood while she fruitlessly gasped for air.

Thunderbolt suddenly found herself lifted in the air and scrubbed by invisible hands, dried and set down on the floor. Her soft fur was puffed out like a dandelion and uniform was repaired.

"What the-" she looked around, "Did you do that? Don't use magic on me without my permission!" Thunderbolt was outraged by being manhandled.

"What? You were filthy." Sheptilah laughed. "Ivo is going to be so impressed with how cute you look now."

Thunderbolt gasped, "You think so? Too bad you couldn't fix my cybernetics, though." She was still plotting Sheptilah's murder and body disposal, however. _Perhaps at the bottom of the sea…_

"Iron," the woman said in a sing-song voice. "Can't work with it. I can work with apples, though."

"What?" _So the apple_ was _poisoned! Well ,_ Thunderbolt wondered, _if I was to fall into a deep sleep like Snow White only to be awoken by Doctor Eggman's true love's kiss… that wouldn't be so bad._

"Apples represent love, fertility and wealth," Sheptilah grinned mischievously, "If you want Doctor Eggman to fall in love with you... offer him an _apple_."

The witch was intentionally manipulating Thunderbolt into being compliant.

" _Any_ kind of apple?" Now the yellow chinchilla was listening. She leaned in close to get the juicy details.

"The largest, reddest apple you can get your paws on. Pick it yourself from the tree and whisper your desires into the flesh of the fruit, but don't bite into it. Hand-deliver it to him wrapped in gold paper when you are done. It will soften his hard-boiled heart," She lied. You use silver paper for love spells.

In order to get any work done Sheptilah would have to placate her living obstacles and find them. That means keeping Doctor Eggman and Thunderbolt busy with stupid things, gathering the grimoire, finding her familiar and assembling a makeshift coven to help gather the materials to recreate the staff her mother used.

Of course Sheptilah knew that Thunderbolt was not her familiar. Nothing is ever that easy.

She had a feeling she already met the clever folk she was to spend the rest of her life with but wasn't quite sure who it could be.

Whoever it was, they had a great power. She felt it when she had awoken and felt it again at the beach with the Mobians during their first encounter.

In order to find her familiar she would have to do a little digging on a metaphysical plane when her energy was restored.

"You could probably sneak off to where he's sleeping and worm your way to under his arm." Sheptilah teased.

"You're right!" Thunderbolt sped out of the room to do just that.

"Oh," was all the witch could say. _I didn't think she'd take that seriously…_

She tried to remember the layout but got lost. Instead she focused on Eggman's cologne, that wonderful earthy cologne, and sniffed her way out to his room. She saw he had fallen asleep halfway off his bed with his shoes still on and something strange in his hand.

She crept in quietly so not to wake him. She wondered why his bed was so small, it didn't even look adequate for himself. Oh well, all the better to facilitate cuddles! She could see just fine in the darkness and noticed a photo of Metal Sonic on the shelf next to the bed. Thunderbolt was already plotting to replace that with a glamour shot of herself.

She inspected the strange thing in Ivo's hand. It looked like a bronze ring, almost a tiara.

A tiara ? Thunderbolt sniffed it and smelled the witch on it. She narrowed her glowing emerald eyes and grinned evilly as she slipped the circlet from Eggman's hand. That witch will burn at the stake and I will reap the rewards.

She hopped up on the bed and nestled next to Doctor Eggman's head on the pillow and fell asleep with visions of human vivisection dancing in her mind.


	10. Float Away

_Forget everything you saw_ , Sonic lied to himself, _they were all robots. No humans or Mobians. All robots with synthetic skin and bones._ By the time Sonic had gotten out of the shower his hands and feet were pruney and spines were pressed flat against his back.

The bathroom mirror was fogged over which was just as well- the cobalt speedster didn't want to see how awful he looked when exhausted. He grabbed a towel and vigorously rubbed his spikes dry; procrastinating by drying as many as he could individually.

Sonic then decided to focus on getting something to eat and walked zombie-like to his kitchenette.

He opened the refrigerator and looked blankly inside. It was as if his brain couldn't process what he was peering at. He saw vague shapes: lumpy things wrapped in foil, jars of chili sauces and random fruit haphazardly thrown around cans of soft drinks.

He lingered in the cold radiating from the appliance for a moment. Sonic gingerly shut the door without getting anything and flopped into his hammock and prayed for a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Amy pinched the bridge of her nose with frustration. She had her tarot cards spread out in front of her looking for guidance. She was in her bedroom sitting with her legs crossed facing the headboard with the cards spread out on the neatly arranged blankets.

Sweet sandalwood incense burned. Pink and white candles spread about the room flickered impatiently.

The pink hedgehog had done this many times, each spread becoming more and more complex; but this time her cards were giving her mixed signals and were hard to read. She had a tarot handbook next to her and her own grimoire full of notes to refer to and neither was helping. Clearly she would have to simplify her spread and questions.

She gathered up the cards and shuffled the deck; taking extra care to feel the smooth cardstock the images were printed on. The illustrations were gorgeous watercolors where all of the subjects were different flowers instead of people.

"Can I trust the witch?" she held the deck to her lips. "or rather can we trust what she says?"

The first card she had pulled was the King Of Cups, reversed. She pulled another card and laid it sideways on top of the first: The High Priestess.

Amy wrote this down in her notebook and moved to the next set question without putting the cards she pulled back into the deck.

"How do I protect myself?"

The first card in response was The Lovers. The next one was Ten Of Cups, both upright.

Again she penciled in these notes. She always wrote down the results before calculating the meaning.

"How do I protect my friends?" She asked this one last question before stopping for the day as she was getting sleepy and hoped to nap after this.

Her result was death and Seven Of Pentacles, again both were upright.

The first two cards, she figured, meant that Sheptilah was emotionally manipulative and powerful, but not untrustworthy. _Because that makes perfect sense_ , Amy scoffed. She's manipulative but you can trust her. The second set meant to befriend the witch and make her like family. The third answer was simply that change only comes from investments.

 _Fine,_ she thought, _be obvious. What a sassy deck I've got._

A familiar chime cut the silence. Amy wrapped her cards in the red silk handkerchief they arrived in and felt around the bed for her phone.

"Where is that darned thing," the chiming continued, "I hear you! Stop yelling at me." She found it tucked under her pillow.

 **[WhiteEcho]** Amy, how are you doing?

It was a text from Rouge.

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** hey, I'm ok. Hbu?

 **[WhiteEcho]** I wanted to check on you

 **[WhiteEcho]** stuff at the base was bad

 **[WhiteEcho]** and Sonic just left

Amy got up and blew out her candles. 'Stuff at the base was bad' was understatement of the year. She took her phone with her into the kitchen to get herself a snack. She found a half-eaten muffin to finish off.

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** I'll be ok

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** wait he was held there all night?

 **[WhiteEcho]** yeah. He wants to come with us

 **[WhiteEcho]** to some ancient building but we all said NO

 **[WhiteEcho]** so he's probably grumpy

 **[WhiteEcho]** keep an eye on him ok? We need you all to stay on the island

 **[WhiteEcho]** and defend it

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** I always got my eye on Sonic! ❤︎❤︎❤︎

 **[WhiteEcho]** you're so cute, don't ever change ok?

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** never!

Amy chuckled and put her phone on her coffee table and laid back on her sofa. No matter what was happening in the world she knew she could always rely on her friends. Even the aloof ones.

* * *

Hope was in her dorm writing up notes for Cabbot on her laptop. The lights were off and the only illumination came from the soft glow of the computer screen.

 **Wednesday December 10th**

\- Thunderbolt the chinchilla's Soumerca base is attacked by the 'witch eaters' and put on lockdown

 **Sunday December 15th**

\- Doctor Ivo 'Eggman' Robotnik claims he discovers the witch Shep-til-a in the southwest quadrant of Dust Hill

\- Shep-til-a is brought to GUN by Shadow and Rouge for questioning and voluntarily surrenders herself to cell block 5

 **Monday December 16th**

\- Shep-til-a is given a medical work-up and leaves the premises

\- Thunderbolt's distress call makes it through

\- Doctor Eggman requests assistance from GUN at Sheptilah's behest

\- Sonic the hedgehog, Amy Rose the hedgehog, Tails the fox, Knuckles the echidna and Sticks the badger all come along but remain outside

\- Thunderbolt the chinchilla along with thirty-three Egg army survivors are removed

\- Doctor Eggman is given a GUN communicator by President Abraham Tower

[Last Edit: 12/16 11:20]

Hope was sick to her stomach. The very _concept_ of being forced to work with Doctor Eggman, even if it was from a distance, made bile wind its way into her throat.

Ivo was her uncle. They were related. She is related to a _monster_.

All the chaos and bloodshed he's caused and will cause. She rested her elbow on her desk and her chin in her hand and stared at the screen with her upper lip curled.

On top of all that, another witch has wormed her way into the Kintobor family drama. Apparently Regina Ferrum and the Naugus twins were just the beginning. Now they have some ancient queen to deal with and the eldritch abominations that come bundled with her.

Great. _Wonderful_. Fun-filled times ahead.

However... unlike Regina, Sheptilah's magic doesn't work with iron. That's her weakness; her Achilles' heel. She can't understand typed or pre-recorded language, either.

If Sheptilah proves to be untrustworthy, Hope pondered, we can always throw her in the Special Zone with Feist to suffer with everyone else.

A knock on the door broke her concentration.

"Come in." She called, closing the lid on her laptop. Shadow stepped in holding a foil-wrapped hot dog.

"You missed lunch so I brought it for you." He turned on the light. Hope's dorm was just as bare as his was save for pictures of Team Dark plastered on the walls.

"Oh, thank you." She took the food and munched on it. "I totally lost track of time. I was writing up the summaries for Mr. Cabbot."

"I figured you were busy," he sat on the edge of the bed, "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just… old family memories bothering me. You know how it is."

"If it makes you feel better, the witch said she was going to kick Eggman's ass when this was all over." He grinned at her.

"Did she really?" Hope's mouth curled into a smile. "It's a lot to kick. I hope she's up for the challenge." She took another bite. "So you trust her?"

"I don't trust anyone that works with Eggman, but it's not entirely her fault. It's actually somewhat my own fault, too. I let him destroy the moon years ago and she doesn't know this."

He stared at his metal skates. "All those people that died in the Soumercian base… they died because of my indirect actions."

"Shadow," Hope sulked, "None of this is your fault. Nobody could've known this would happen." She set the remains of the hot dog on her desk and sat next to the hedgehog.

"Still," he began, "I thought I was making up for my past. I guess it will catch up to me over and over again."

Hope wrapped an arm around his thin waist and pulled him in for a hug. "You've already done that and then some. This is Eggman's past that's catching up; not yours."

Shadow felt great comfort in Hope and it wasn't simply because of her resemblance to the late Maria. She was one of the few Overlanders he could stand to be around for more than an hour. Hope is a trusted confidant and wise beyond her years- so he always turns to her for advice when he can't find his own answers.

The hedgehog rested his head against her shoulder gently. He was quiet for a while, lost in thought.

"Something else is bothering me, too." His ears flicked impatiently.

"What?" Hope sighed.

"She's way too nice." Shadow closed his eyes and wrinkled his brow.

"Wait, her being nice bothers you?"

" _Yes_ ," he stood up, "And I think she pretends to be weak to feign innocence."

He didn't trust many people but he certainly didn't trust strangers that come bearing armfuls of gifts and promises.

"And the witch orb. She just bit into her hand like it was nothing so we could simply summon her if need be; and those promises that she'd fix whatever Eggman broke. I think she is manipulative and more suspicious than she lets on. Why everyone seems to trust her right off the bat is beyond even me."

" _She bit into her own hand?_ " Hope's mouth curled in disgust.

"Yes. Just… right in the area between your thumb and forefinger." He held the fingers apart for emphasis. "She bit right into them and drew blood and picked up sand. The witch orb works as she described it but… it was just weird." Shadow has seen a lot of nonsense but witnessing someone self harm by taking a bite out of their own meat was unsettling to him.

"Yikes." The skin between her fingers ached just thinking about it.

Hope then sat up with a start and grabbed her laptop and opened a search bar.

"I was doing some casual research on witchcraft and what you just said reminded me of something I saw." She was typing frantically. She brought up a webpage detailing blood magic rituals.

"This may be out of date since she's thousands of years old but," she scrolled down, "it sounds like she may be a blood witch. If this is correct, and it may not be, blood magic performed using the witch's own blood is irreversible."

" _Irreversible?_ " Shadow knew nothing of magic beyond technomancy and crystalmancy.

"As in, the spells cannot ever be broken; even by the witch themselves. So those witch orbs are _permanent_." Hope paused.

"That also means anyone whose blood she comes in contact with she can use to curse them or kill them by mixing it with her own."

"That could explain why she's so quick to heal people and uses her hair for it. The ends were pink with it after the run-in at the Egg base." Now the wheels in his head were turning.

* * *

Sheptilah was leaning on the sink and staring deeply into the reflection of her eyes in the mirror. The witch had gotten out of the tub and caught her own vision in the silvery surface and was drawn to scrying without intending to. The sound of the water going down the drain was the perfect white noise.

 _Show me_ , after a few minutes she felt her ears begin to ring, _show me my familiar._ Her eyes unfocused and her vision blurred.

 _Show me._ She felt angry. Very angry. The world was whirling around her.

Suddenly the world shifted as if she was high up, walking precariously on a narrow surface about to fall. The feeling in her stomach of being dropped from high up was nauseating.

Her breath quickened and her grip tightened. Her knuckles were almost as white as the porcelain she was clutching.

Death. She felt death pounce. Something hot entering the back of her head and an explosion of color and then blackness. The sensation of heavy iron holding her arms and legs down.

The feeling of running in a loop-de-loop and pushing yourself forward with tension.

The taste of sugar overflowed in her mouth making her teeth ache and saliva drip from her chin.

The feeling of drowning with your lungs full of water overcame her next. That dreamy, warm feeling of drowning when you accept that you are about to die and go with the flow of it.

Blood everywhere that wasn't yours.

Starlight was the next thing that came into her mind. Starlight so blinding and beautiful and something golden and fiery in your line of sight. She wanted to catch whatever it was with all of her heart.

The planet from high above looks so beautiful and strange. _Was Zanu really this green?_

A strange kind of twinkling music coming from instruments she did not yet know the name of drowned out the incessant ringing in her skull. Brightly colored lines in the shapes of an archer and a whale. Lights that felt ice cold to the touch.

 _Who is my familiar_ … She demanded again. Flight- the feeling of being thrown high into the air only to be caught and let down gently. Sheptilah was experiencing all of these sensations at once and shivered.

The feeling of questioning your own reality. She was suddenly unsure if she existed or was a dream. Who am I? Who am I? The words bounced in her brain like distorted echoes in a tunnel.

 _Who is my familiar? Tell me, Universe. Who is it? Where are they?_

Sharp. Round. Sharp. The adjectives kept changing. Which was it? It could not be both.

Hot. Cold. Why is this so conflicting? Blue eyes. Eyes as blue as the morning sky.

"I can't move my feet."

She felt intense fear trying to access whomever it was that was her familiar. Something was blocking her and it began to hurt. She felt pain shoot up her arms and feet as if her bones were snapping. Sheptilah tried to snap out of the scrying herself but it was not working.

Then a crack. The clatter of something breaking on the floor 'woke' her along with the painful thud in her foot.

Her vision refocused and she saw she had chunks of porcelain in her hands and another had hit her toes. She broke the sink.

She looked up into the mirror and for a brief second saw herself with only one glowing eye. The vision came and went like lightning.

Sheptilah looked around and saw she was still wet and dripping. She heard the tub still draining. She checked the water level and realized wasn't even scrying for more than a few seconds when all Hell broke loose.

She was afraid of her familiar.


	11. Who Was In My Room Last Night?

Orbot was cleaning nearby when heard the noise and floated off to investigate. He saw the mess Sheptilah had made and was incensed.

"Do you know how long it took him to pick out that pedestal sink? Four hours. Four! We were standing in the hardware store for that long so he could decide on a sink he hardly ever uses. Why did you break it?" He had a hand on his 'hip' and was pointing at her with the other.

"Hm?" Sheptilah still didn't understand the robot.

"Oh right, you can't talk to me," Orbot went up to her and pushed her out of the bathroom so he could begin repairs, "Might as well since nobody listens to me anyway. And put on some clothes!" He punctuated his anger by slamming the door.

Eggman was awakened by the commotion and shuffled bleary-eyed and half-asleep down the hallway to the source. He was so exhausted didn't even notice Sheptilah was nude. All he saw was a mass of white hair and a brown human shape against a gray wall.

"What did you do?" He asked with sleep still lingering on his tongue and glasses still on his face. Apparently they were never taken off.

"I accidentally broke the washbasin." She was still shaking from the scrying.

"Don't do it again."He turned around and walked to the living room to flop on the sofa. He landed with a soft 'oomf' and was right back to sleep, snoring loudly.

 _That's not even where he woke up from_ , Sheptilah thought, _and that's where I wanted to sleep!_

Sheptilah herself went to Eggman's room and curled up under the blanket next to the still-sleeping Thunderbolt since it was the only other place she knew of to rest. The chinchilla rolled over and nuzzled next to Sheptilah's cheek thinking it was Eggman's. The witch was enthused with how soft Thunderbolt's fur was and snuggled up closer. She felt much better not being alone.

The peace didn't last very long.

It was only a few hours into the afternoon when Eggman had woken up on the sofa. He didn't remember falling asleep there, but he didn't care to question it since he slept there more often than his own bed.

He trotted into the kitchen to make himself some coffee and review any messages on the Eggnet. He noticed a pile of garbage by the entrance that Orbot was tying closed.

"What did you do?" His tone was one of annoyance.

"Me? I did nothing! It was that lady friend of yours. She broke the sink." Orbot slung the bag over his shoulder and proceeded to put it in the dumpster out back.

"Huh. I feel like… I already knew that. Hm." He scratched his bald head with a gloved hand.

He should have felt angry but he didn't. _Maybe it has to do with the bonding,_ he thought, _I will have to push for the separation_. The very concept of not being in control of his own emotions was depressing.

Orbot came back in with Cubot who was out tending to the garden. Eggman ordered the two to start making some food for himself and the two visitors.

"Remember that Sheptilah is a vegetarian. Thunderbolt will eat whatever you put in front of her but she prefers dried food." He was fixing himself a cup of coffee. "I'm going to go shower. Where are the girls?"

"Scanning…" Orbot was connecting with the internal surveillance, "They're both in your bed."

"Oh." Eggman pursed his lips. "That's… _unexpected_." With coffee in hand he walked to his room nearby and turned on the light.

"Five more minutes, Clove." Thunderbolt mumbled and rolled over and in the process got tangled up in Tilly's hair like a fly in a web.

The witch stirred. She opened her eyes and squinted at the brightness. "Who turned on the sun?"

Ivo sipped his drink. "While I'm typically not opposed to having women in my bed- you have about thirty seconds to get out of here before Thunderbolt fully wakes up and rips out your jugular." He said it so casually and so quietly it was as if he was joking.

He certainly enjoyed the view. Her small and perky breasts were barely hidden by silvery white tresses. The woman's soft brown skin was covered in a smattering of dark freckles head to toe like stars peeking out in the dusk sky. Her bony physique was worrying, though. He was afraid she may snap in half if he so much as looked at her too hard.

"She wouldn't," Tilly smiled nervously, "Right?"

"Twenty-five seconds…" He tapped his foot for each second that passed. "Twenty-four… when she murders you I am not going to be able to put you back together because I'm not that kind of doctor. Nineteen…"

His calculations were wrong. Thunderbolt was roused by his talking and went to stand but found herself struggling against the massive amount of hair she was wrapped in. Tilly sat up and covered herself with the blanket with one hand and shook Thunderbolt out of her locks with the other.

The chinchilla landed on the pillow face-first. She lifted her head to look at Eggman with a flushed and angry face.

"I can explain!" She started, but realized it was of no use since there was nothing to explain.

"It's so cute when my underlings get along." He quipped.

Sheptilah rolled her eyes indignantly. "I am not your underling; if anything you are _my_ underling."

"You keep telling yourself that." He smiled behind his mug. He certainly couldn't see anything of Sheptilah's that would warrant an R-rating and her normal clothing left little to the imagination regardless. Ancient desert dwellers seemed to enjoy the climate in two ways: wearing a lot or wearing a little. Sheptilah apparently came from a culture that practiced the latter.

Thunderbolt let out a horrified gasp when she realized Sheptilah was 'al fresco'.

" _Where are your clothes?!_ " Thunderbolt's tail bristled with agitation. "How dare you defile this sacred space." She pointed a gloved finger at the Overlander. "You make me sick!"

With a snap of her fingers the witch brought her clothes she was found in on. "Are you less upset now?" She stood and stepped on her circlet. "What's this doing in here?" She retrieved it and put it on her head where it belonged.

Eggman laughed. "Relax, it's okay. She's not from our time. They didn't have the same kind of modesty or shame we do. It's culture shock."

Thunderbolt smoothed down her fur. "If you say so."

"Are you hungry, T.B.?" He asked the chinchilla. "Orbot and Cubot are making something for all three of us."

"I get to eat in Lord Eggman's home? I'm so honored!" She clapped her hands together joyfully. Eggman gathered up the clothes he intended to change into after setting his empty cup on the dresser.

"We'll discuss new plans for the Soumercian base over dinner. Right now I need to tidy up." He shot Thunderbolt a look over his shoulder, "And no fighting." He left for the bathroom and wanted to inspect the damage done.

"Yes Sir!" She saluted him. How exciting; a new base! Maybe this time she'd get to pick the interior decorator.

"Thunderbolt," the woman turned to the Mobian and whispered, "Remember what I said about the apple and that you don't have to worry about me and Ivo? I'm serious about that."

"Well, I was thinking about that. How could a spell like that even work for me? I'm not a witch." The chinchilla was looking around the room and decided to snoop a little. She sniffed around and looked in some of his drawers and was disappointed to see he had several 'copies' of the same clothes he wore all the time.

"All sapients can perform magic like mine," Sheptilah made the bed a little neater. "Some better than others. You, Doctor Eggman, anyone with a heart and a brain… you can do magic. It's a wonderful thing. It's an energy that unites all living things throughout the universe. It's also possible to borrow my energies for your purposes."

"I know that you can do anything with the Chaos Emeralds if you have enough of them," the chinchilla shut the drawer, "And that if you have magical artifacts you can use those."

"I don't know anything about any Chaos Emeralds," Sheptilah bobbed her hair again with a glamour, "Come on, let's go eat. Stop snooping."

"Don't tell me what to do, _human_." Thunderbolt snapped but did follow Sheptilah to the dining room.

They passed by the bathroom and could hear the shower running at full blast. Steam was crawling out from under the door and Thunderbolt was tempted to take a peek and lingered.

"All human men look the same, Thunderbolt," Sheptilah nudged her along gently with her bare foot. "Don't be a creep."

"You are no fun." She scowled.

Orbot and Cubot had set out a salad for Sheptilah but reheated the leftover chicken for everyone else. The blonde chinchilla's mouth watered at the sight of the fried chicken wings and bolted for the table.

The bathroom looked mostly untouched except for a cracked tile and the sink missing.

"What the _Hell_ did that woman do to destroy it in the first place? I spent four hours picking that sink out and I don't think they make it anymore." He was grumpy at the thought of having to buy a whole new sink.

It wouldn't match the current fixtures and he'd have to redo the whole damn bathroom!

He ran the shower hot because he just didn't feel clean unless he was properly boiled. After undressing (except for his glasses) he got in and inhaled the cleansing steam.

"This is ridiculous," he was mumbling as he lathered up, "Absurd and ludicrous. Well, maybe not. I have been wanting to redo the lair. Having guests for once proves I should really have a second bedroom or three.

I could also upgrade to an en suite. Maybe put in another closet for my weapons." The ideas were bouncing in his head wildly.

Then he started thinking _bigger_. Maybe a terraced garden out back instead of the small one he has now. He could create tiny robotic bees that kill all the flowers on the island except for his beautiful botanical garden and he would charge admission for people to come see it!

Why stop there? He could grow genetically modified fruits and vegetables and those same bees could kill the unmodified ones on the island and the people would starve if they didn't buy his special food!

He finished washing, dried off and got redressed. What an invigorating shower! All of his best thinking was done under hot water.

He combed his fingers through his silky mustache with excitement.

"Ladies, where are y-" As he entered the dining room he saw Thunderbolt was standing on the table with a knife pointed at Sheptilah just inches from her throat.

"I _explicitly_ forbade fighting." Eggman frowned. "Feet off the table, T.B."

Thunderbolt was startled and dropped the knife. "I'm so sorry, Lord Eggman! I was trying to teach the witch a lesson in humility." She jumped down into her seat and sat primly with her hands gripping the table's edge.

Eggman looked at Sheptilah and raised his eyebrows.

"Miss chinchilla wanted me to wear an Egg army uniform and I refused," she sighed with relief.

Like most knives that one was made of steel which contained iron. One small nick to the jugular and the witch would've been about as lively as a carrot.

"Thunderbolt is extremely passionate about my military-industrial complex and I look for that in an employee," Thunderbolt squeaked with joy when she heard those words, "However she is _merciless_."

"I don't like the color red," Sheptilah took a bite of her salad with a slightly jittery hand, "I prefer purple."

"You threatened a witch over _that?_ " Eggman knew she had a short temper but that was an overreaction.

"She said I looked like a pumpkin!" Thunderbolt bit into her chicken angrily.

"Ah, well then you kind of deserved it, your highness." Ivo sat to eat his meal in between the women so they wouldn't kill each other. While Sheptilah and Thunderbolt were sitting across from each other Eggman sat at the head of the table.

"Sir, I'm extremely honored to be sharing a meal with you;" she licked the chicken grease from her fingers. "And I'm excited to discuss the new Soumercian base."

Sheptilah listened intently to the conversation but did not participate. The two excitedly discussed better weapons storage, an improved safety system and perhaps an internal bunker with more creature comforts like a pool table.

She was horrified at how gentle Doctor Eggman can be and yet how vicious he was. She thought back to when he pulled Sonic from the vent so gingerly it was as if the hedgehog would shatter if he squeezed too hard.

And here he was planning a rebooted base for his goal of world domination.

"Thank you for the meal." Sheptilah bowed slightly. The two were too engrossed with their conversation to notice. The witch went outside to rest in the meditation garden. It was small but lovely.

The air smelled sweet from the harsh downpour of rain that beat against the sea all day and the clouds were finally dissipating.

She laid back on the wet grass as the sun set in the distance, staining the sky a bloody orange.

* * *

"Sonic, are you home?" Amy knocked on the wall since Sonic did not have a door. "Sticks is doing her thing, again."

Sonic groaned and sat up. "What is she doing? What time even is it?" He saw the sky was painted a deadly red from the sun retreating.

"You have to see it for yourself." Amy shook her head in disbelief. "Tails and Knuckles are helping her. Also it's sunset."

Amy led a sleepy Sonic to Sticks' bungalow in the jungle. The badger was hammering long metal pipes into the perimeter of her home. Tails was standing and watching while Knuckles was actively helping by unceremoniously shoving pipes directly into the stone like cutting into butter.

"Sticks, what are you doing?" Sonic was perplexed. "Is this another one of your traps?"

"No," the badger looked up from her work, "I'm keeping that thing Sheep Tiller or whatever her name is out."

"Sheptilah?" Sonic corrected her. "She's a witch not a 'thing'."

"Yeah, that; and no she isn't." Sticks trudged up to Sonic and Amy. "Witches are not hurt by iron! Fairies are."

"Everything is hurt by iron if you hit them hard enough with it," Knuckles chimed in as he shoved the last pipe in place.

"He's right." Sonic nodded in agreement with the echidna.

"Sticks… there's all kinds of witches," Amy had one arm across her chest and was gesturing with the other, "What's the difference anyway?"

"There are all kinds of _fairies_ , Amy. They steal babies and replace them with sticks called changelings! They sour your milk and keep people as love slaves! They hate the sound of church bells and will steal sparkly things. The precious sparklies… Sheet Stealer is not stealing my glittery preciouses!" Sticks balled her hands into fists and punched the air.

" _Sheptilah_ ," Sonic corrected her again, "It's not that hard."

"She's been doing this all day, guys." Tails was exhausted but was supervising making sure nobody got hurt.

"Mispronouncing her name or building this thing?" Amy asked.

"Both." Tails sighed.

"If you see a fairy ring, don't walk into it," Sticks warned, "Or you'll be whisked off to Fairyland! ...Or maybe the government's secret brainwashing station. Could be the same place; I'm not totally sure."

Sticks stuffed the pipes with sticky clay and put the handles of knives in it so the pointed ends were straight up as a warning.

"Fairy or not she's working with Eggman," Tails pulled out the knives carefully. "Which means we cannot trust her but we cannot kill her either, Sticks."

"It's not like she wants to work with Eggy; Sheptilah's _bonded_ to him." Sonic took the knives from Tails and put them in the bushes.

Just then they heard a shriek from above. It was the witch and she was falling.

She found herself suddenly up in the air and quickly righted herself, landing softly with the aid of magic.

"What in the world-" Tails backed up.

"Oh! Did I say your name three times?" Sonic forgot he kept the witch orb in his glove, "I didn't mean to summon you." That was embarrassing. He could've accidentally dropped her right on the pipes, too. That would bring down Sticks' property value to say the least.

"I told you she couldn't be trusted!" Sticks pulled her boomerang out of her skirt and threw it at Sheptilah's head. It smacked her in the temple with a thud and fell to the ground.

"Ow! Hey!" the witch rubbed her cheek. "This is the second time today I was assaulted."

"Hey! It's that… lady!" Knuckles was a little slow on the uptake, "I remember you from yesterday, but you had longer hair back then." He walked up to her and looked her over, "Don't fairies usually have wings?"

"A fairy? I don't know what that is but I certainly don't have wings. You, however, are the largest Mobian I ever laid eyes on," He was as tall as Sheptilah, "What are you?"

"I am Knuckles the echidna!" He said flexing proudly.

"What's an echidna?" She was unfamiliar with that animal.

" _I'm_ an echidna," he repeated, "Pay attention!"

"Egg-laying endotherm known as a 'monotreme'." Amy said flatly. "Also a bit of a meathead, but he's got a big heart."

"Thanks." Sheptilah raised her eyebrow. "And this is…?" Gesturing to the badger.

"None of your business!" Sticks got into a defensive position.

"Sticks, be nice." Amy chided.

"Thanks for telling her my name!" The badger shouted.

Sheptilah bent down and picked up the boomerang and offered it to the badger on her open palm. "I mean you no harm."

"My name is Tails," the fox came up to her and shook her hand, "See?" he showed her his twin tails.

"That's different," the witch smiled, "How wonderful."

"You reek of Eggman," Sticks took the boomerang back, "Badly."

Sheptilah put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight to one leg. "That man is a menace and when this is all over I'm probably going to have him sent to a void somewhere far, far away."

"What did he do _now?_ " Sonic pulled the woman by her wrist away from Sticks who looked ready to bite.

Sheptilah waved him away. "He's going to rebuild the Soumerca base. I don't think he's even given thought to all of his people that were murdered. He seems completely unaffected by everything and so does that chinchilla."

"He's probably repressing his emotions." Amy cut in. "This is a man who cries over his robots being destroyed. It's not healthy. One day he's going to boil over and crack." She emphasized the last word by snapping her fingers.

The sky got dark quickly. Tiny stars peeked out and twinkled. The air grew colder and a gentle breeze caressed over them.

"A king who mourns their toys and not their people," Sheptilah dramatically looked at the sky, "Is the kind of king who gets… you know." She drew her hand across her throat.

"What? What is it? A sore throat?" Knuckles scratched his head. "That would be awful."

Tilly thought that perhaps the gesture was too antiquated for them. She sighed softly. "In a manner of speaking, yes."

"She means killed, Knucks." Amy pinched the bridge of her nose with frustration. "Beheaded. Like with an axe or a guillotine."

"Oh! It's better than a sore throat." The big red one nodded sagely.

"Oh… uh do you remember how you said you'd fix anything he broke?" Sonic chuckled nervously. "I have an idea of what you can do to help."

"What's that?" Amy was confused, "there's nothing in town that needs fixing."

"So fix Eggman." Sonic stood proudly with his hands on his hips and his chest puffed out.

There was a pause before everyone broke out into laughter.

Sheptilah's sides were aching from giggling so hard. "There's not enough magic in the world for that one, Sonic."


	12. A Little Less Conversation

"A blood witch?" Rouge sat at her vanity in her dorm brushing her hair. "Shadow, you're being paranoid" She squinted at the hedgehog's reflection in her mirror. He stood in her doorway and leaning against the frame with his arms crossed.

It was the same size dorm as his but it seemed more open. Pictures of friends and magazine cut-outs added color to an otherwise drab gray wall. A soft fuzzy rug next to the bed in pink that matched her bedspread. Overall it was very cute and maybe a little juvenile for someone her age.

"I'm being _prepared_ , Rouge." He was annoyed with her waving off the possibility. Rouge picked up a spray bottle filled with sweet perfume and spritzed it on her neck.

"Rouge…" He grew impatient. "It's not a date."

"Hmph!" She turned to pout at him. "We're going to be in the vehicle for a long time and in the big ancient building even longer than that. I want to smell nice at least."

"You always smell nice. In the time I've known you you _have_ never been smelly. We don't even leave for another hour," he put his arms up in frustration and walked over to her, "What perfume _is_ that?"

She smiled coyly. "It's called 'dark kiss'." She pursed her lips.

"Ooh, _dark kiss_." He mocked her playfully. "Who are you trying to be fancy for anyway?"

Rouge turned back to her mirror and smiled at her reflection. "Myself." She blew her reflection a kiss.

Both Rouge and Shadow's ears swiveled to the noise of Hope running down the hall. "Hey guys!" she said breathlessly as she came to Rouge's dorm. "Ooh you smell nice!"

"Thank you, Hope! What's up?" Rouge shot a sassy look at Shadow and he rolled his eyes in return.

"President Tower was considering asking Sheptilah to join GUN if the mission goes well; but that's not why I'm excited!" She was bouncing on the balls of her feet and grinning wider than they've ever seen.

"I was about to point out that you didn't like the woman." Shadow sat on Rouge's bed and almost fell into it. It was like landing on a warm marshmallow. He was caught off-guard by how plush it was and struggled to sit all the way up.

"Rouge, your bed is eating me alive." He held out his hand so she could pull him out of it.

"What is it, honey? The suspense is killing me!" Rouge stood to help Shadow get unstuck from the bed.

"There's a Chaos Emerald near or in the ziggurat!" Hope chirped. "So we get to kill two birds with one stone tonight!"

Shadow smiled. "That's great!" He turned to Rouge and asked under his breath what the bed's stuffing was.

"Memory foam pellets," she winked, "I sleep like the dead on it."

"Why are we leaving at night, anyway?" Shadow brushed his spines back down. "Wouldn't going during the day be more practical?"

"It's exclusively Cabbot's decision. He thinks Sheptilah is nocturnal and prefers moonlight over sunlight." Hope shrugged. "She's certainly not nocturnal but he says it's 'her house' so it's a matter of politeness according to him. I think he has a crush on her."

"I know I prefer working by moonlight," Rouge stated. "It also helps Shadow blend in better to his surroundings. Sometimes all you can see his white breast fluff floating in the darkness."

"I'm stealthy no matter where I am," he puffed out his furry chest. "I am the Ultimate Life Form."

"Yeah and you just almost drowned in a mattress." The bat snickered.

He turned away and huffed. "Cabbot is a married man, Hope. He better not have a crush on anyone but his _wife_."

"His wife's dying," Rouge frowned, "She is a poor candidate for a kidney transplant, right? So she basically lives tied to that dialysis machine. It happens sometimes. Your spouse starts dying so you look… elsewhere for later."

"Just because your wife is dying doesn't mean you start planning to sow your oats _elsewhere_ ," Shadow crossed his arms, "It's just crass."

"Grandpa, nobody says 'sow your oats' anymore." Rouge teased him. "Besides I was kidding about the crush thing. I think he wants her to heal his wife."

"Tower is going to blow a gasket if he finds out." Hope furrowed her brow. "But it _is_ better to ask for forgiveness and not permission."

"Tch," Shadow scoffed, "He's desperate if he is resorting risking his career by dealing with witches… but I understand." He was thinking about Gerald and Maria. His scowl softened into a slight frown and he looked lost in thought. "I understand completely…"

* * *

"Try not to summon me by accident anymore," the Overlander lightly patted Sonic on the head, "I'm always happy to drop in, though. Anything that gets me away from Thunderbolt."

Sonic blushed with embarrassment. "Again, sorry about that."

Sheptilah looked around in the darkness. "Since I'm out here I might as well explore the island a little."

"I got my eye on you," Sticks gestured with her fingers, "Alright! Everybody off my property! Scram!" She shooed her friends away and slammed the door to her hut. She then moved to her window to spy on the group still outside her home.

"Sheptilah, I actually have questions for you! I am way into archaeology and I want to learn your language and everything." Amy smiled broadly and sweetly.

"Ask away," the human walked away and gestured for them to follow her, "But I reserve the right to not answer."

"I actually have a lot of questions, too," the little blond fox twisted his tails together nervously, "And I'm afraid of the answers."

The Mobians turned on their luminous garments to light the way. The human was amazed at the beauty of the neon lights embedded into their clothes and accessories.

"This is nothing; you should see what I have back at my workshop. You have so much to catch up on after having been asleep for thousands of years." Tails beamed proudly.

"How long is a 'year'? We measured our passage of time in seasons. I'm sixty-four seasonal changes old and we only had two seasons: dry and dry but with a little rain." The witch shrugged.

"A year is three hundred and sixty five days long and there's four seasons to a year in this hemisphere so that makes you about thirty-two years old." The pink hedgehog was amazed at the differences between the cultures already.

"Five thousand and thirty two," Sonic corrected them, "Give or take."

"Wow! You look good for your age." The echidna laughed. "You must be a great-great-great-great-great-great-great," he inhaled deeply, "Great-great-great grandma!"

"Thanks," Sheptilah giggled, "Yeah I do look great for my age, huh?"

Sheptilah was careful to step over rocks and twigs that got in the way on the dirt path, "I never had children. Even if I wanted them I didn't have the chance. We were fighting those creatures all the time. What's the life-expectancy of your average human in this time?" The witch asked the group. They were near the ocean now and the air smelled of it.

"Uh… about seventy years." Tails answered. "Why?"

"How old is Doctor Eggman?" The human tilted her head.

"Physically? I think he's in his forties. Emotionally he's about five or six." Amy smirked.

"Wonderful," Sheptilah chuckled, "We have about thirty years left of his nonsense."

They came to the empty main street of the small village. The cobblestone road was cold and slightly damp but it felt nice to walk on. The area was dimly lit by street lights that desperately needed maintenance.

Then came a strange noise in the distance that rapidly got louder. It was Eggman on his little hovering vehicle with Orbot and Cubot in tow. He saw the group and abruptly came to a stop, throwing his lackeys forward and onto the ground with a loud metallic clatter.

"There you are!" The man shouted. "Don't run off like that." He scolded Sheptilah as if she was a child.

"Eggface!" Sonic dodged the incoming Cubot, "What do you want?"

"I don't want to deal with you right now, you filthy mutated rat," he spat, "I'm here for the _lady_." Ivo landed his vehicle and hopped off of it. His two robots groaned and stood up.

"Where's your chinchilla friend? Are you hiding her in your pocket?" Sheptilah smirked. "Go away I'm busy."

"Thunderbolt? I sent her back to Soumerca. I came to find you because GUN called and said they sent a ship to come pick us up right now. We're leaving for the ziggurat _tonight_." Eggman looked nervous and unhappy.

"Seriously?" Her shoulders drooped. "But why not during the day?"

Eggman sighed deeply. "Probably because it's too hot during the day. Come on, they'll be here soon."

Sheptilah turned to her new Mobian friends and bid them goodbye, "We will talk more later. I can't wait to see all the wonderful things you have to show me."

She turned and felt the air with her fingers until her nail snagged on something invisible and she pulled open a portal to Eggman's tower large enough to accommodate the man and his weird flying machine.

Sheptilah closed the portal behind her and turned to Eggman. "There's some things I'd like to discuss with you before we leave." She motioned for him to follow her as she walked off to the meditation garden to sit on the grass. Orbot and Cubot followed curiously. Sheptilah patted the ground next to her indicating she wanted him to sit next to her but he opted to stand instead.

Orbot and Cubot took the hint and sat next to her.

"Sit, Doctor Eggman. I don't bite. Sit." The witch was getting annoyed. "Even your robots understood." She stretched her legs out in front of her and leaned back on her hands, resting her cheek on a bare shoulder.

"Ugh, fine, but these pants are dry-clean only." He sat cross-legged in the grass next to her and they looked out to the ocean. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry for breaking your washbasin. I was scrying for my familiar as an impulse and I got scared of what I saw and… I guess it broke in my grip. I will fix it."

"Scrying? What's scrying?"

She used her magic to swirl up an image of a mirror floating in the air between her hands, "Staring deep into a reflective surface for divination."

"What did you see?"

"It was more like... _feelings_ than things I saw." The smoky illusion changed to Mobius from high above in space.

"Seeing the planet from so high up… this and the feeling of falling. Like falling forever…" She sighed. "I don't remember the rest." She was lying; she remembered it all but didn't want to think about it. She closed her hands to make the illusions vanish.

"Listen… I have to ask you why you are the way you are," she flexed her ankle until she heard it pop, "Because I don't understand you."

"What's to understand? I'm Doctor Ivo Eggman and I am going to rule the world!" He clenched his fist victoriously and his robots next to Sheptilah clapped politely.

"For someone who hates Sonic and his friends you were awful gentle with him back in Soumerca," she sighed softly, "And for someone who loves his so-called empire you seemed unaffected by all the bodies of your people in your base."

Eggman looked down at the blades of grass gently swaying for a moment before taking a breath, "I knew if I was rough with him you'd have slapped me upside the head."

"Oh, please!" She guffawed. "I've known you for about three days and even I can tell that's a lie; but you're right I would've smacked you. You're not afraid of me."

"It's complicated." To say nothing of the corpses he really was not about to throw the hedgehog across the room after pulling him from the vent in her presence.

"Let's play a game: I'll tell you a secret if you tell me yours," she raised her eyebrows playfully, "I have a lot of secrets."

"Okay," he was hesitant, "What's your secret? You never shaved your legs in your life?"

She looked off at the rolling waves glittering in the moonlight. "For years I've wanted to throw myself into the sea. I wanted to melt into the salty abyss and exist there forever."

"That's not much of a secret." He was expecting something more substantial than that. "Lots of women want to be mermaids."

"Ah, I guess I have to be more literal," she inhaled deeply. "For as long as I can remember I have wanted to _die_."

"Oh." He half-chuckled. "I'm not that kind of doctor, either. I cannot help you." That's when he noticed the raw-looking portion on her upper arm where the metal scraped her.

"I'm not asking for your help," she smiled at him, "I'm just saying. I never wanted the responsibility thrust on me. I knew we were all going to be wiped out by the beasts and I figured why draw it out?"

"What happens if you die since we're bonded?"

"I don't know. You might die with me. I want this bond severed so that doesn't happen because I guarantee you that fighting these witch-eaters will kill me this time," she coughed, "But I think the planet might benefit from you being gone."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," he flashed a crooked smile, "Don't die before the bond is removed, I have stuff planned for next week."

"Like what?"

"I want to expand my meditation garden and try that new meat-lovers pizza coming out at Meh Burger."

She gagged, shaking her head. "Ugh, meat. After what I saw yesterday I don't think I'd be able to eat meat even if I did."

"Sheptilah, I always regret losing assets. I'm used to them being robots and not living things but I still regret their losses." It was true. Doctor Eggman did not show much emotion other than anger and haughtiness but seeing some horrible things in his life did keep him up at night sometimes. Cubot and Orbot grew bored with only getting half of the conversation and wandered off.

 _"Assets_ ," she looked at him with those poisonous violet eyes, "As if they were objects."

"You know what I meant," he waved her off, "I didn't know any of them personally. You compartmentalize and move on with your life."

" _Compartmentalize and move on._ " she repeated. "So you do have a heart, maybe; but you were going to leave Thunderbolt to die," she laid back and rested her hands behind her head, "And that's someone you know pretty well."

"If you weren't here she would've died. I'm pretty sure she actually was dead for a moment there but you brought her back." He checked the time on his gauntlet and wondered where the Hell the GUN ship was and why it was taking so long.

"You think too highly of me," she chuckled, "I can't do necromancy."

"That's a shame; I was hoping you could revive my mother." He pouted jokingly.

"I'm sorry. When did she pass?" Sheptilah frowned.

"No, she's still alive but sometimes I'd like to kill her more than once."

There was a pause before the witch understood and laughed. "You think you had it hard? I had two adoptive moms. Two . I lived in a constant loop of 'go ask your mother'."

" _Two_ moms?" He raised an eyebrow.

Sheptilah nodded. "Yeah. My biological mom was a friend of theirs. She was killed by a witch-eater not long after I was born so I was raised as the princess by queens Tiamatu and Lulu. When my moms retired I became queen."

"Wait. One of your moms was named Lulu? You have the names 'Sheptilah' and 'Tiamatu' and then _Lulu?_ "

"Lulu means 'well mixed person', as in well made from fine clay. Your name is Ivo," she squinted at him, "Ivo. Eggman. Doesn't mean anything in my language."

"I am named after a strong, vibrant tree species!" He pushed out his chest defiantly. "What does your name even mean?"

"Banana."

"What?" He couldn't hold in his amusement and laughed so hard his glasses almost fell off his face. " _Banana?_ " He was gasping for air between giggles.

"Oh, shut up," her face was red, "Bananas were rare to us and we liked the curved golden ones because they looked like a crescent moon during harvest season. They had big brown seeds in the middle that were not unlike my freckles!"

He wiped a single tear from his eye and wheezed. "Oh that made my day."

She frowned at first and then started laughing, too. It was pretty funny. "You can just call me Tilly for short. It's what Rouge called me." She stood up and removed the glamour keeping her hair bobbed.

"Look." She pointed out to the sea. The GUN ship was slowly approaching. Eggman stood as well, brushed the soil from his backside and straightened his coat.

"Finally!" He brought his gauntlet up and typed something into it. Orbot appeared moments later with a silver briefcase in one hand and a small box in the other and presented it to the doctor.

"What's this?" Sheptilah asked with upturned eyebrows.

"Just some provisions," the briefcase was heavy but he lifted it with ease. "Weapons and the like. I also have this for you."

Orbot lifted the box to give it to Sheptilah. She took it and opened it gingerly. Inside was a little pin in the shape of his logo.

"This is a tracker," he explained, "Since I can't communicate with you over a radio due to the language barrier I figured I could give you this pin so I can find you if we get separated."

She affixed the pin to her leather top. "Thanks." She thought it looked a little ugly but it would be a good idea to have it due to the nature of the ziggurat's inner chambers.

Unlike the other one they were in the day before this GUN ship was large and imposing. It landed with a heavy thud. The ship was black with the association's logo emblazoned on the side in a deep red. Something hissed and a door slid open. A set of metal stairs unfolded and down descended Boris Cabbot.

"Mr. Cabbot!" Sheptilah waved."Nice to see you again." She walked up to him and smiled. Eggman sighed and followed suit after giving Orbot orders to keep the lair on the tightest lock-down while he was gone.

The two were escorted into the ship by the director. It was open on the inside with a few soldiers sitting next to each other all strapped in and wearing full combat gear. She couldn't see their faces behind their alien-looking helmets but recognized the red fox from the other day.

"But where is-" Sheptilah was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Yoo-hoo," Rouge called attention to herself. She was strapped in her seat securely next to Shadow, both were wearing warm-looking jackets. Omega was securely fastened into the back for balance.

"There you are! And our grumpy hedgehog friend," she sniffed the air, "Someone smells nice."

Rouge shot Shadow a smug look. "Told you." She muttered smugly.

"You're wearing that to the desert at night?" Cabbot gestured to all of Sheptilah. "Won't you freeze?"

"I don't have anything else," she shrugged, "I'll be ok. The cold night is not that bad."

* * *

"I admit I was _wrong!_ " Sheptilah was hit with ice-cold air the moment she stepped off the ship and shivered. She wrapped her hair around her bare arms. Each shaky breath was visible.

"The ambient temperature is four degrees Celsius." Shadow walked past and zipped up his jacket. " _Slightly_ above freezing."

"I envy your chest fluff." Sheptilah squinted at him. Rouge followed behind and looked around with a sensor. Three other GUN operatives got off the ship and set up computers and other monitoring software around the entrance. They were looking for both a Chaos Emerald and those witch-eaters. Omega descended from the ship and stomped around scanning the area but finding nothing.

It was a beautiful clear night and the sky was littered with stars behind a glowing moon. The ruins of the ziggurat looked so small compared to what she remembered with many of the layers and stone houses missing. Time was a cruel mistress.

The ziggurat itself was made up of six layers, each about half as tall as the one it was sitting on. A long, steep and crumbling stairway led straight up to the top with ramps to move up and down each layer where homes and businesses once stood. There were still stains down the sides where artificial waterfalls once flowed.

Cabbot opted to stay inside the ship and monitor from there with Hope still at the fortress.

"The ziggurat regulated its own temperature back then," her teeth chattered, "It was always beautifully mild." Her voice got high pitched and squeaky.

"Oh for the love of-" Doctor Eggman stepped off the ship and took off his jacket and plopped it on Sheptilah's shoulders like a cape. He felt pity for the poor woman but began to regret this act of kindness after he felt a slight chill. She wasn't expecting it to be so _heavy_ , but it was warm and she felt better.

"Thank you," she put her arms in the sleeves, "I think I could live in this coat it's so big." She hugged herself and snuggled into it.

"Aww, how cute!" Rouge teased. "What a gentleman." Rouge's ears were getting numb from the cold and she was rubbing the tips with her fingers to keep them warm.

"I've always been a gentleman!" Ivo huffed, "Have I ever been untoward with a lady?" He paused. "Don't answer that."

"There's something I have to tell you about the ziggurat before we enter." Sheptilah giggled nervously.

"Oh, here we go." Shadow complained.

"So… the inner chambers _move_. They shift around constantly when someone is inside. It's to protect our giant cauldron and our family grimoire among other things like the royal coffers. So we are gonna get very lost very fast. If you stick by me things will be okay since I am the queen and this is my house."

She tried to stand confidently but the cold made her hunch over and shiver instead.

"We're all going to die," Eggman groaned and switched to an overly dramatic voice, "I never saw Paris."

"Royal coffers?" Rouge perked up. "You mean like gold, jewels, other valuables?"

"Well, y-yes. I have no use for most of it anymore so you can keep whatever you find." She coughed.

"How do we get inside?" Her ears stood straight up and her grin was so wide it almost took up her entire face.

"Up the stairs to the great temple where there is a secret passageway to the inside." Sheptilah pointed up at a few lonely columns that stood at the very top.

Rouge was energized by this information and grabbed the witch by the upper arm and started running up the steps. "Let's go, let's go! I want those jewels!"


	13. Levels

_**This chapter contains graphic violence and gore.**_

* * *

The summit of the building itself was as long as a football field and twice as wide. Getting to the top of it would have been a very long trek for everyone who didn't have wings.

"Rouge," Shadow sighed, "You're forgetting something." He gestured to an operative who was holding headsets for everyone.

"Oh, right!" Rouge stepped down and sashayed over to the man and held out a gloved hand for hers. It had a camera and small microphone embedded into the delta-shaped metal plate that rested flat against the forehead. With it came an earpiece that nestled snugly in anyone's ear and clipped to the back of the lobe.

"This is so we can see what you see," the unnamed fox operative explained, "And this one is yours. Apologies for not having a spare uniform for you, Sheptilah. We dropped the ball on that one."

Given Sheptilah's known iron allergy her unit was made with a thin ceramic coating on the underside so it didn't irritate her skin. He gently traded her bronze circlet for the iron one and helped her put in the earpiece.

Doctor Eggman opened his briefcase and assembled a smaller version of the laser gun he used to blast away the metal walls of the Soumercian base. The small black weapon had a line of red light going down the center indicating it was charged and ready to fire. He put the safety lock on and stored it in his pants pocket.

"Can you hear me?" Hope's sweet voice spoke into their gear.

"Hope?" Doctor Eggman was surprised. "You're still with Team Dark?"

" _Aie?_ " Tilly spoke. " _D'jen mi?_ "

"What?" Hope ignored Eggman. "Oh, that must be Sheptilah."

"She said 'Hello, can you hear me'." Shadow translated. "This is going to be annoying."

"Don't worry, I am just recording what we find. I can see all of your cameras are working. That is the most important part. Can you hear us, director Cabbot?"

"Yes, I can." He answered over their coms.

On Hope's screen were five different squares, each representing an individual's camera. They were all properly labeled with their names except for Sheptilah's which was simply labeled 'witch' and Eggman's which was labeled 'jackass'. Omega had a built in camera and light, so he did not require any additional gear.

"We are also recording all conversations for posterity, so don't say anything you'll regret." She warned them.

"I have something to say." Omega began but was interrupted by Shadow and Rouge.

"Fine." The robot gave up. He was going to ask if they really needed Doctor Eggman to come along.

"Please, can we go now?" Sheptilah's lips and fingers were blue. She turned to the ziggurat and lifted a shaky hand, feeling for a snag in the air to open a portal to the top. She put a numb finger in her mouth to warm it up and try again when she couldn't feel anything.

"What are you doing?" Rouge raised an eyebrow. "Opening a portal?"

"Yes! I'm feeling for a snag in space to open a portal to the top so we don't have to walk all the way up there," she felt around again and found one and quickly pulled it open large enough to accommodate Omega.

"There are gaps between our dimension and others. If I can find the gaps, which I feel for with my fingers, I can open doors but only if it's to a place I know." Her legs were shaking badly and she had difficulty stepping into the portal but immediately found herself feeling warm and safe when she did.

The moment her feet touched the stone of the temple many rocky torches lit up with blue flames. The group could see a glowing portal appeared at the top of the ziggurat and followed the witch through it.

Sheptilah bent down and touched the floor. Magic flowed through her body and out her fingertips to the temple ruins, restoring it to its former glory with a large illusion. White smoke crawled across the surface revealing what it used to look like. The floor became smooth tiles of lapis lazuli inlaid with gemstones representing individual stars, planets and constellations that have since shifted.

The marble pillars were tall and crumbling. They were placed in a pattern that suggested it was used for telling long periods of time. A deep fountain appeared in the center of the summit with vapor spilling from the spouts.

The rest of the ziggurat remained unchanged as she only needed to remember where the hidden entrance was.

Repairing such a massive building for real would need the added energy of a strong familiar.

"It was _gorgeous._ " Eggman admitted. He turned around, absolutely enchanted. "Maybe I will base one of my park attractions on it."

"We have good visuals." Cabbot's voice spoke to them.

"Confirmed; looks good up there; but we can't see the magic. It must not be able to be recorded with cameras." Hope responded.

"First class transportation," Rouge chirped, "I can get used to this." She gasped at how pretty the floor was and marveled at the gemstones in it, but frowned when she realized she could easily kick away the smoke holding the illusion in place.

"We slept out here in the temple to charge at night under the stars. Some of my best memories come from this summit." Sheptilah could feel the sadness welling up in her throat.

"Witch, I have a question." Shadow looked at her with suspicion. "Why can you not just open a portal to the inner chambers where the grimoire is?"

"Because they move," she closed the portal behind Omega and gave Eggman his coat back, "If we open portals and wind up inside something solid it would be instant death." She interlocked her fingers to explain what she was talking about. She picked a flame bare-handed off of one of the pillars. "Follow me. Grab one if you'd like, they won't hurt you."

Rouge tentatively reached up to feel the temperature of the flames and felt a comforting warmth but no burning. She blew onto it and the flame did not shift with the gust. The bat then gingerly picked it up with her fingers and understood what it was.

"It's a will-o'-the-wisp! There's will-o'-the-wisps here!" Rouge was very excited, toes barely touching the ground and gliding by her wings. "These things lead people to fortune and treasure! This is already the best mission ever!"

"I think it's just a flame," Shadow picked one up and 'juggled' it between his hands, "Like a night light."

"So which is it?" Eggman asked the witch.

"I don't know, they've always appeared when someone was at the temple at night." Sheptilah shrugged. "But you could _both_ be right."

"Or you could all be wrong," Eggman looked over it curiously. He made a mental note to bring one back to the lab to study it but did not pick any up.

It was a fair walk to the other side of the temple. She pointed to a large stone slab, "This is where we performed the executions. Just under the beheading altar would be the entrance to the core."

"Executions?" Eggman's throat suddenly hurt. "Hey…" He hoped she was joking and not serious.

"I only oversaw the beheading of five people in my life; you're fine. These were individuals that committed heinous crimes. Crimes like murdering your own familiar to summon a world-ending demon." Sheptilah shrugged it off, "Y'know, people who really deserved it."

"He's summoned a few world-ending beings," Shadow pointed out with a smirk, "So if you want to make it an even six…"

Eggman's eyes grew wide with horror. " _Shadow!_ "

"Did you ever murder someone in order to summon them?" The witch raised her eyebrow at the extremely nervous man.

"No," Eggman huffed, "I never killed anyone." His bald head was damp with sweat.

"Then you wouldn't get death." Sheptilah said curtly. Ivo exhaled a sigh of relief.

"You'll get a lifetime of hard labor," she flashed him a sharp smile, "As a reward for your treachery."

" _An even six?_ " Rouge scolded under her breath. "We're being recorded." His only response was an uncaring shrug.

"Your highness- please have mercy," Eggman took her small hand in his and half-jokingly begged, "I learned my lesson the first time I tried to take over the world with unknown magic. I'm not doing it with force anymore."

Shadow could almost feel Hope rolling her eyes at what her uncle was saying.

"Oh?" The witch smiled coyly, lips turned up in the corner. "You're so cute when you're nervous and begging for your life."

"Cute?" Eggman squinted.

"Yes, we had humor. I'm going to fix as much as I can without hurting anyone, I promise." She took her hand back and turned to the stone.

Sheptilah dispelled the illusion and was horrified to see the butcher's block was missing and she stood at the mouth of a large hole.

"It looks like someone got here before we did," Rouge spoke into her com, "A very long time ago."

"I expected damage but given the protective nature of the ziggurat we should be alright. The grimoire should be safe." Tilly reassured them and peered into the hole with the will-o'-wisp. The blue light revealed crumbling steps leading downward in a spiral at a width Omega could not breach.

"I will guard outside," the large robot spoke, "And stay in contact. I will not fit because my strong shoulders are too wide. Sorry, meatbags."

"Sorry we can't take you with us," Rouge frowned, she was hoping Omega could punch his way through walls and boulders.

"Don't descend yet." Cabbot's voice called into their coms, "We're unable to get a proper reading on the ziggurat."

"It could be the magic interfering," Shadow suggested. "It's happened in the past."

"Our sensors picked up the Chaos Emerald energy in the area but it seems to have moved to five miles below the ziggurat into solid rock. It's not possible." Hope was annoyed. "It keeps fluctuating."

"We are definitely gonna die on this rock." Eggman's mustache drooped and then perked up, "Wait. There's a Chaos Emerald out here?!" That renewed his spirits a bit. He started typing away at his gauntlet but was disheartened to see the magic was affecting his gear as well.

"Why don't you have faith in me?" She sounded genuinely hurt at the doctor's half-joking comment. He felt a pang in his chest and believed it was the bond punishing him for being mean. To him it made more sense than to label it as 'guilt'.

"Sheptilah, is there anything below the ziggurat?" Rouge asked her.

"No, it's built on solid sandstone. There's nothing under it; everything is inside it." The witch shook her head. "Unless a giant hole opened while I was asleep."

"According to Sheptilah there's nothing under the building," Shadow sighed, "We'll find what we need come Hell or high water."

"We'll keep you posted. You're clear to descend." Cabbot could be heard typing while he was speaking.

"I'll go first." Sheptilah stepped into the opening. Her bare feet met piles of soft sand on the steps and frowned. Seeing her home in such a state was greatly upsetting and if she wasn't so cold earlier she would have cried.

Eggman quickly followed behind her, sucking in his gut a little to get through the small opening. Once inside it was much wider and he could breathe again. Shadow and Rouge descended after that, both holding their wisps close. Something about the structure was making Shadow's spikes stand on edge and he was irritated by every little noise.

"We see you moving downward," Cabbot spoke, "Good. The emerald has shifted positions again as well. Our sensors show it as bouncing around in the center of the building. More or less it is staying put."

Shadow grunted to acknowledge they heard the message.

After a few minutes of carefully descending down they came to a doorway that seemed to lead into solid blackness.

"Stay close," Tilly warned, "The internal lighting should have come on but…" She looked at her wisp. "It seems I will have to do it manually." She handed her wisp to Eggman and touched the ground.

The magic from her Oracle Stone was visible in pure blackness as a faint white glow that spread to each corner and became bright as the sun. They all shielded their eyes as their pupils dilated painfully.

When their vision came back the room was bare and a startled scorpion skittered across the ground and out another stone doorway.

"There used to be furniture in here," Tilly frowned, "Wooden chairs and a table…" Her eyes darted in every direction. "There used to be paintings on the walls, too."

"Our concern isn't furniture, Overlander." Shadow spat. "Let's move on."

"I'm just stating a fact. What is your problem with me?" Sheptilah was feeling extremely uncomfortable with his presence. "And is Overlander a _slur?_ "

"Several things about you bother me. Where should I start?" Shadow nodded at the doctor. "Should I go by size or alphabetically?"

"Listen, if you think you're so important why don't you go on without us?" Sheptilah gestured an open hand toward the black doorway. "Go ahead and get yourself killed."

"Please. I'm here to make sure _you_ don't get killed." The black hedgehog was feeling particularly sharp-tongued today.

"You're mighty sassy for someone who barely comes past my waist." She stuck out her hip to emphasize the point. "You are so small and so full of hatred."

"Enough," Rouge stepped in, "Let's continue on." She pointed to their coms again as a reminder that they are being watched. "And no, it isn't a slur."

"It sounds like it is with the way he says it." Sheptilah balled her fists and growled. Eggman laid his hand on her bare shoulder and gently squeezed it to calm her down. She was startled by the sudden contact and squeaked.

"Tilly," he whispered, "It really isn't a slur. I'll explain what it means later. Come on… lead the way."

The tension was palpable. Something was setting Shadow on edge and it was noticed by everybody. Eggman made sure to walk as far from the black hedgehog as he could. She walked through the black doorway and lit it with magic. It was just as empty and run-down.

"They're going to kill each other." Hope spoke directly into Cabbot's com.

"I hope not," he responded to Hope, "At least Rouge and Doctor Eggman are being level-headed, surprisingly."

Sheptilah inhaled deeply to calm herself down. "We have several more levels to go down before we start getting to the shifting rooms. The next set of rooms is…. was a lounge with a pool. Off to the sides of those were my room and my mothers' rooms. After that it becomes a maze."

" _Mothers_ , huh?" Rouge smiled, "Did you ever get caught in a constant loop of 'go ask your mom'?"

"Yes!" Sheptilah nodded. "How'd you know?"

"Just a hunch," the bat winked. "It's still a thing today"

They came to the large and deep room that used to house a pool. All that remained was a large hole in the floor filled with dust and sand and graffiti from thousands of years on the walls scratched in with rocks.

"I can read these." The witch placed her hand on one of the scratches. "My stone is telling me they're from centuries ago."

"What's it say?" Rouge was very curious. "Any maps to treasure?"

Sheptilah was stifling a laugh. "It's a fart joke in Sumerian. 'Why do girls always fart in their husband's laps?' This one on the far end I don't recognize the letters but it says 'George Was Here'."

"That's in English," Eggman nodded, "Our language."

"Ugh. That means people have been trashing my house forever…"

"And that people have been making fart jokes since the dawn of time." Rouge chuckled.

Sheptilah immediately walked around it and got to the remains of what were her room and lit that as well. It was totally empty, not even any graffiti remained.

"Why are we in here?" Eggman looked around, holding the wisp out ot light his way.

"Because my stuff is probably still here." Tilly walked up to a large stone slab and laid her palms flat against it.

"This room is empty," Ivo coughed, "Unless you can see things we can't?"

"Back up." She pulled the long stone out with magic like a Jenga block and set it aside on the ground with a very heavy thud. She hesitated and then climbed up into the hole and disappeared into it.

"Please don't get stuck." Rouge called into the hole.

Shadow felt fear creeping up the back of his neck. The witch described herself as being claustrophobic and yet was crawling right into a wall. Maybe she had trapped them there as part of some ulterior motive.

Tilly's heart pounded as she felt around for something in the dark and piles of dust. A moment later she shimmied back out of the tunnel with a large box in her hand. It was wooden and did not age well. She was covered in dirt and shook the filth off as best as she could and coughed.

"What's all this?" Rouge gasped. "Are these the jewels you spoke of?" Her wings stiffened with excitement.

"My secret stash of stuff." She set the trunk down on the stone slab she removed and opened it. Inside was a very dirty collection of things. A cup made of beautifully carved marble, what looked like a wand with a crescent moon on the end and a long sheathed dagger with rubies embedded in the handle.

"A chalice for drinking ritual potions out of." she held up the cup and then put it in her hair like she did with the grimoire for storage.

"This is my boline," she held up the moon-shaped 'wand', "Its blade is made of the sharpest, purest silver. I cut things with this."

"And finally my athame…" She unsheathed it showing a rusty iron blade. "For ritual cutting. It was a lot prettier when it was new." She re-sheathed it and put it in her hair like the other items.

Under those objects was a small pouch filled with pink armadillo scales. She put that one immediately with the other things without explanation.

"Where exactly are you sticking those?" Ivo stroked the back of her head. "Where does your hair go, exactly?"

" _Please_ stop touching me." She pushed his hand away. "I'm using magic, Ivo. Now let's go get that grimoire. It's huge so we can't miss it. It's a book that's almost as tall as I am."

"And the jewels!" Rouge reminded her.

They came to the doorway that led to the shifting rooms. Sheptilah stuck her arm through and it felt like she was swimming in honey. She took her wisp back from Eggman and held it up to the darkness but it disappeared into the black and illuminated nothing.

Shadow's fur was standing on end and his spines were puffed out defensively. His ears were swiveling in all directions trying to track sounds nobody else could hear.

"Shadow? Our sensors are showing your heart rate is accelerating. What's happening?" Hope spoke into his earpiece. "Hello?"

"I'm fine," he lied, "Just alert." He could hear the sounds of children screaming for their lives.

Rouge shifted uncomfortably on the balls of her feet, "I hear music… dance music. What's going on?"

"Your gear is starting to crackle." Cabbot spoke. "You're cutting out. All of you."

"I don't hear that," Eggman pressed his fingers against the semi-solid blackness, "I hear whirring and heels clicking…"

"Hello?" Cabbot's voice was surrounded by static. "H-he -l l- o"

"Huh?" Eggman tapped his earpiece with his finger, "Hello? Is someone trying to talk?"

"This isn't right." Holding onto the door frame Sheptilah took a deep breath and stuck her head through. She opened her eyes and tried to understand what she was seeing. It looked like a small room that was solid, untextured white on all sides and lit so brightly it was like staring into the sun.

From the other end of the room she could see her own head sticking out of the black only it showed her skin melting and barely hanging off her skeleton. She heard a sickening 'plop' as a chunk of flesh hit the floor.

"What are you so afraid of?" She heard her own voice speak from the other side. "Sheptilah." The figure pulled itself from the black and showed her body was badly decomposed and she was dragging the fetid remains of her familiar by the tail, internal organs leaving a slimy mark behind. The Oracle Stone fell off the figure's chest cracked. The burst of energy that came from it pushed Sheptilah back.

She pulled her head back out of the blackness and yelped. "What the… that wasn't normal." She panted heavily. She swallowed hard and stuck her head back in. The room was empty and appeared to look like freshly-painted with Nannaic figures and writing on the walls. Two doorways appeared, one seeming to lead to a beach and the other to outer space.

She stepped all the way through and pulled Eggman in with her. She was holding his hand so tightly he thought his fingers might fly off.

"What happened?" He could feel his heartbeat throbbing in his fingertips.

Shadow and Rouge stepped in. The noises stopped for all of them and they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Hello?" Their coms rang. It was Hope trying to contact them again.

"We're here." Rouge responded.

"Sensors are showing you are all five miles underground now," Hope sighed, "I am going to just disregard that."

"We're definitely not that far down." Eggman spoke. "Can you see the doors?" He turned to the doorways that seemed to lead to space and the beach.

"No. Visual is totally cut off. Nobody can see anything you're seeing." Hope was getting frustrated. "The only cam still up is Omega's."

"What do they look like? Describe it for us." Cabbot was trying to reconnect visual contact by rebooting some of the laptops.

"One looks like a white sand beach that stretches out forever. There's a blue sky and no clouds." Something about the beach seemed off to Eggman. "It doesn't look real, like really bad video game graphics. The other looks like it leads to the edge of the Milky Way."

"The door we came in disappeared," Shadow banged his fist on the wall, "Totally gone. Where is the Chaos Emerald, Hope?"

"Five miles above you according to these stupid sensors." They could hear the girl typing, "Omega's sensors are telling me the same thing."

The witch looked around with confusion, nervously biting her thumbnail. "This isn't how it's supposed to be. The doors aren't supposed to disappear behind us. This is all wrong."

"Which door should we take, Sheptilah?" Rouge curiously reached out to touch the door with the beach scenery and found it was solid and she couldn't put her hand through.

"We shouldn't take either door." She held onto Eggman's hand for dear life. With her free hand she felt around the back of her head for her grimoire. Let go of Ivo's hand and flipped through the book looking for answers.

"Nothing...nothing...ugh." She stomped her foot with frustration. "I'm sorry. I don't know. I can't even dispel this nonsense without the family grimoire, either."

It was then the following cuneiform appeared above the door leading to the beach:

⋰⦁ ↑ →⦁ ⸬

While the following appeared above the door leading to space:

"Tilly," Eggman nudged her, "Look." He pointed to the writing.

"That's _my_ language," she squinted, "Those are our phonetic names."

"It wants us to go through specific doors?" Rouge looked over it curiously and took a photo of the writing with her phone, "which one is mine?"

"You and Eggman are labelled for the space door. Shadow and I would go through the beach door." She frowned and put her grimoire back in her hair.

"What happens if I don't agree to that?" Shadow crossed his arms.

"Well, when I touched this portal it wouldn't let me through so I assume it's the same for you." Rouge shrugged.

Shadow confidently turned and walked to the space portal and pushed on it with his hands. It simply would not let him through.

"Let us out!" Sheptilah demanded of the ziggurat. "Lead us to the grimoire. It's my right as queen."

No response.

"Let us out!" She shouted again. This time there was a response: the ziggurat began to shake a little.

"Calm down!" Rouge tried to soothe her. "You're gonna bring the place down."

"I'm _not_ doing this." Sheptilah jumped back.

"The walls!" Shadow shouted. The walls were closing in on them at an uncomfortably fast pace.

"What's happening!?" Hope was shouting into their earpieces, "What's happening?"

"We're about to get crushed to death. Go! Go!" Eggman pushed Rouge through the space door and ran in after her.

Sheptilah was in full-blown panic mode now. Her claustrophobia made her freeze in place.

"Come _on_ , Overlander." Shadow pulled her by the wrist to the beach door. "Snap out of it, damn it!" He flung her through the portal and stepped in right before the walls closed on all of them.


	14. Misery Business

_**This chapter is violent**_

* * *

 **Dreamscape 1: I Saw The Sign**

Eggman rolled through the portal and landed hard. His head was throbbing like something was trying to claw its way out. The room appeared to be all of space with the edge of the Milky Way visible before him. He tried to find some celestial bodies he recognized but found none. He stepped forward and his footsteps echoed as if he was walking on glass.

"Rouge?" He called into the glittering darkness. "Rouge?"

"I'm down here," her voice echoed from above him, "Why are you on the ceiling?"

Eggman looked up and saw the bat was walking around. "Actually, you're on the ceiling to me." He waved.

"Hello?" Their earpieces clicked with Hope's voice. "H-Hello? Rouge. Eggman. Somebody?" The girl was typing away on her computer between sips of iced coffee, "Hello?"

"Hello?" Eggman called into his piece. "I hear you, Hope."

"What's going on? Everyone disappeared off of our radar and your video com is showing you are walking around in space. We cannot get data from either Shadow or the witch." She was trying to do a search from Omega's communications for them but again nothing appeared on his radar.

"We stepped into another room. These are illusions, I think." Rouge flew up to be at the same level as Eggman. A large space ship appeared out of a wormhole and passed under them, making the room rumble.

"That's… that's one of my ships," Eggman pointed, "From the Starlight Carnival." Dance music played faintly.

"So remind me again why your witch girlfriend had to drag you along for this?" Rouge smirked.

"We're _bonded._ " He used air quotes. "She claims she doesn't know how to sever it without the family book of spells. I honestly cannot wait to be rid of her." He was walking slowly so he wouldn't bump into any walls. His headache was getting worse and he wondered if it was the separation that was doing it.

"What, you don't like having a cute lady live with you?" Rouge elbowed him gently. "You're both on a first-name basis."

"Not when she is yelling at me all the time, no." His eyes felt like they were bulging. "And I don't think she has a last name."

"We need to find a door out of here," Rouge looked around, "Cover your ears, Eggman. The easiest way is to find the walls."

He put his gun away and covered his ears tightly with his palms. She inhaled deeply and let out an echoing screech.

She was listening intently for the noise to bounce back off of a wall but nothing came. It was as if her voice disappeared into the void.

"One more try." She inhaled deeply and tried to screech but nothing came from her throat but a strained squeak. Rouge coughed and swallowed hard hoping to clear any blockages that might be in her lungs but they were clear. She simply lost her voice.

The music grew louder and fleets of ships began to appear, making the ground rumble enough to almost knock Eggman off his feet. He pulled his gun out of his pocket and aimed it straight ahead and fired. The laser beam traveled a few feet before freezing in place and then dissipating as if it was made of water vapor.

Eggman started humming along to the music. "I know this song…"

"What?" Rouge whispered hoarsely. "What's it matter?"

" _'I saw the sign- and it opened up my mind…'_ That's Ace of Base. Old musical group from decades ago." He nodded. "What happened to your voice?"

"I don't know," she choked, "This has never happened before." The music's volume hurt her very sensitive ears.

"Hello?" Hope yelled into her mic. "Hello?!" But no response. They couldn't hear her tinny shouts over the thrumming music.

Rouge saw something flick out of the corner of her eye. More ships appeared under them and the room shook again. The bright pulsing lights made it difficult for her to lock onto whatever it was that was moving.

Wait. Where were their will-o'-the-wisps?

That's when the floor began to crack. Slowly at first but then rapidly. Eggman tried to run but it was like his feet were stuck in place under heavy sandbags. Rouge grabbed onto his arm and tried to lift him by flying to no avail.

 _What are you so afraid of, Rouge The Bat?_

 _What are you so afraid of, Ovi Kintobor?_

Before they could react to the sudden voices filling their heads they heard something else become more emergent.

The flicker of light that caught Rouge's attention bounced back and forth at lightning speed leaving cracks on invisible walls and lunged straight at them. She recognized what it was when it was inches from her face.

It was a witch-eater.

All of the walls shattered with a deafening crash and all went black. By the time they came-to they were in another place and Eggman was drowning in blood.

 **Dreamscape 2: Concrete Angel**

Shadow clung to the doorway by its very edge when he saw how high up the portal was. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly and calculated that he was about seven stories up. He could barely get a grip on the sharp edges of the portal and felt like he was going to fall forward at any second. His tail was pressed uncomfortably against the solid stone sending painful throbs up his spine.

Sheptilah already landed on the soft sand head-first and for a second he thought she had snapped her neck and died.

"Sheptilah!?" He called. "Please tell me you are not dead. I am going to be really angry if you are dead."

"What?" She pulled her head out of the sand. "Dead? We're not dead." She looked up and saw him trying to stay on a ledge about an inch wide.

"Jump down; I'll catch you." She stood and brushed herself off and held up her hands.

"I am fine," he lied, "The impact of my weight would kill you."

"With magic, you dingus, magic!" She stomped her foot. "I'm not going to let you stab me to death by catching you with my bare arms!"

"I don't need your help!" He looked out to the distance and saw there was nothing in all directions. He couldn't even see where the sun was. He looked down for a brief moment and then lept, landing next to the witch as softly as if he jumped from a curb. She took her earpiece out and tossed it into the sand.

He was happy to be on the ground again and looked up and noticed there was a white wall that seemed to reach up to the sky next to them that cast no shadow.

"Where did this wall come from?" He touched it and was rewarded with the sensation of his arm going numb. He quickly withdrew his arm and the feeling came back.

Sheptilah spat sand out of her mouth. "It was here when I arrived."

"No, it wasn't," he knocked on it, "This was not here when I was up there. There was nothing in all directions."

"Yeah, well, I promise you it didn't appear the moment you landed." She crossed her arms, "I hate this. I hate feeling so useless and lost."

"Then be useful and find the portal to the next room." He was fiddling with his com trying to get it to work.

All he could hear was the low hum of static in his ear so he took out the headset and carried it in his hand.

"Let's walk and see what we find." Sheptilah bobbed her hair with a glamour. "At least it's not hot like _my_ desert."

"Fine." Shadow was already dreading having to dig sand out of his skates again.

The duo silently walked away from the wall. Without any landmarks it was hard to tell how far or long they traveled. The more they walked the more their feet felt heavy and stuck as if the sand was made of molasses. Sheptilah wanted to talk to learn more about him but felt it was better to let him initiate any conversations.

The silence was oppressive. Sheptilah begged in her heart for any kind of noise; a bird calling or a breeze shifting sand. Anything!

Shadow was counting his paces as a way to keep track of distance. After ten thousand steps he felt more tired than he ever had in his life and looked back. To his great horror the wall was still there and only a few feet from them.

"What the Hell…?" He growled. " _Witch_ …"

"Hm?" Sheptilah looked over her shoulder to see what he was complaining about.

"We didn't move at all," he swallowed hard, "We had to have traveled at least _five_ miles and the wall is still here."

"It might not be the same wall,." Sheptilah looked around but without markers it was hard to determine. Even the stones on the wall were all identical in shape, size and color.

"What if we try to go over the wall? There has to be some logic to this room." Shadow was at his wits end with this nonsense.

"Maybe… but first I want to try something." She held out her arm and with her index finger traced a line lengthwise between her elbow and wrist, drawing blood.

"What are you doing?" Shadow was horrified.

"Marking." She pressed her arm flat to the wall and it left a horizontal line. Then she pressed her arm again at the corners to form an arrow pointing to the left. The wound healed itself instantly when she was done. "See?"

"That is disgusting. _You_ are disgusting." He scolded her. "You are so reckless with your own body." His arm felt itchy just by watching her.

"What, are you hemophobic?" She was offended by his disgust.

"No but I do not trust people that play with their own blood so much." He felt a knot form in his stomach.

"I don't have paint on me," she shrugged, "And witch blood cannot be washed off easily. This way the damn ziggurat can't undo it and we have a marker to gauge distance with."

"Oh," he sighed, "I suppose that's reasonable."

"It doesn't hurt, I promise." She smiled sweetly. "Let's try again. You wanted to go over the wall?"

"Yes." He looked up at it. It was maybe thirty feet high and could be surmounted with a good running start.

She used magic to stir up the stand and forced it into becoming a glass surfboard-shaped plate about four inches thick.

"What are you doing?" He squinted at her.

"We flew on these," she stepped on it and it levitated, "Though typically it was made of stone."

She offered out her hand. "Glass heats up too quickly, so I can't go too fast. I was the most skilled dune drifter around in my time."

"Dune drifter, huh?" He hesitated but then took her hand and she lifted him onto the board. She scooted forward so he could stand behind her and hold onto her waist.

She lifted the board and the jostling of it made Shadow cling just the slightest bit tighter. He definitely did not like heights and most especially not being in control.

They floated upward to the edge of the wall and peered over it. It looked the same on both sides, the marking in blood included.

Sheptilah slipped off her anklet and let it drop. When it fell on one side it appeared on the other. She looked at the vista before her and a reflection of the two bobbled in the same way heat makes the air dance.

"It's a mirror. Both sides of the wall are the same. So much for my idea of going over it."

"We've wasted enough time; I'm getting us out of here. Chaos Control!" He expected to warp out of there but nothing happened.

"Chaos Control!" He tried again. "Chaos-!" He huffed. " _Damn_ it."

"I'm going to feel for a portal, see if we can't at least get out and start over." She felt around the air but picked up nothing.

Sheptilah lowered the to be a few feet off the ground and pushed forward on the plate. She wanted to make sure the bloody arrow was disappearing behind her. When she felt confident that they were actually moving across the sands she burst forward.

Shadow was beginning to panic at the thought of watching this woman starve to death. They were alone with no foreseeable way to get out and with no food supplies. Shadow, being the Ultimate Life Form could survive for months without sustenance but humans could only last three days.

"Is this normal?" He asked her.

"Is _what_ normal?"

"The ziggurat doing this to the rooms."

"No, it isn't. It just shifted rooms. We stored a lot of junk in them. Huge jugs of water, seeds, things like that. It discouraged people from stealing our stuff and the witch eaters from finding our most precious things." Sheptilah wished her mothers were here to help her, "I can't even ask it to just deliver the grimoire to me. Some queen I am," the witch sighed, " _Was_."

"How long can you live without food, Sheptilah?" He thought he saw something move across the dunes but decided it was nothing.

"Five thousand years." She joked to cut the tension; she knew why he was asking.

"I'm serious," he groaned, "How long can you survive?"

"Five days."

"And how long could we possibly be trapped here?"

"I don't know but I will not let us die here." She slowed down and came to a halt when the bloody arrow came into view. All of her anger boiled over at that simple mark she made.

"Ziggurat!" Sheptilah shouted upward. "Where is the door? Stop messing with us. As your queen I demand you let us into the next portal. I want my grimoire!"

"Don't antagonize it." Shadow growled. "It may try to crush us again."

"Where there are walls there is a door." She winked.

"Huh?" His ears picked up the sound of something rapidly flicking back and forth. The sand started to swirl beneath them like the sea.

"A witch-eater…!" He could hear it but not see it since the sand was the same shade of white.

"Where?!" She instinctively flew up higher so it couldn't reach them.

 _What are you so afraid of, Sheptilah?_

 _What are you so afraid of, Shadow The Hedgehog?_

"Did you hear that?" Shadow's heart raced so fast he could feel his heartbeat down in his toes.

"Yeah," Sheptilah swallowed, "I did. The ziggurat has never _spoken_ before."

The rapid flicking got louder and the creature jumped upward at them and hit the bottom of the glass plate hard enough to form a tiny crack.

Sheptilah screamed and wobbled but caught her balance. Shadow was holding on for dear life with one arm and formed a Chaos spear with the other and was ready to fire it.

The creature resurfaced and lunged at them from behind pushing them both off of the glass board and into the shifting sand. The Chaos spear bounced off the wall and fizzled away.

They were quickly swallowed up by the sand and woke up in another room.

 **Dreamscape 3: Let It Flow**

Ivo was drowning. He heard something clatter against glass and the faint sounds of familiar voices shouting. His vision was going black and everything felt numb but he was unhurt.

Eggman felt like he was floating on air and smiled in the simple ecstasy of oxygen deprivation. _Dying wasn't so bad._

Blood that wasn't his, frothy and pink, bubbled up out of his lungs.

"Get up." He heard his grandfather's gruff voice over him.

 _Gerald,_ Eggman thought, _you bastard. I knew I'd meet you in Hell._

"Get. Up." The voice demanded of him again.

 _Let me die in peace, damn it._

"You are not dying. Get up."

 _I am most definitely dying. My brain is already starting to go. See? You aren't real. You're dead. You died a long time ago and I am dying in the pit of an ancient building. I think._

 _If you were real you would know what my favorite color is._

"It's orange. Because it's the opposite of blue."

 _Okay, lucky guess. When did I have my first kiss?_

"Ovi…"

 _See? Fake._

"Do _you_ remember your first kiss? No."

 _Oh._

 _Grandpa. Talk to me. I don't want to die alone._

There was a long pause and then:

"What are you most afraid of, Ovi?"

 _What? Don't call me that. Nobody calls me that._

"What scares you the most? Think about what scares you the most."

 _Cracked glass. Cockpit glass._

"You're afraid of that?"

 _Sonic the hedgehog. Glass breaking. I…_

"Eggman is drowning." He heard a female voice say.

"Roll him on his side," a male voice replied, "Quickly."

All four of them were reunited in a glass forest. All of the trees, shrubbery and even some skittering woodland creatures were made of it. The leaves scraped against each other like nails on a chalkboard.

Sheptilah was the only one to be hurt when they fell in. The poor woman was directly impaled through the stomach on a short pine tree.

Shadow was roused from unconsciousness by the feeling of something warm and wet dripping on his face. He rolled over and looked up, thinking it was rain. Through the branches he could see the distorted figure of a woman and wet, red streaks pouring out from under her.

He jumped to his feet and craned his neck to see the witch's eyes were open but were devoid of pupils.

"Sheptilah!" He called. Her eyes moved to the direction of the voice. Her glamour was off and her white tresses were tangled in the branches like tinsel.

 _Help me, Shadow._ Her voice sang in his head.

"How?! How can I help you? You're going to die _faster_ if I pull you off the tree."

 _Trust me; I will be alright. Be not afraid._

"Rouge!" Shadow looked around for the bat and found her laying on her side a few feet away. He shook her awake and pointed to the witch.

"Oh my God!" Rouge felt her heart drop. "What happened?!"

He climbed up the limbs in seconds, the leaves tinkling against each other. He lifted her by the back of her neck off of the spike and toss her over his shoulder before jumping down.

"I don't know," Shadow laid the witch on her back and gingerly turned her head to the side.

Don't listen to the voices, the witch rang in all of their heads, they aren't real. I am healing myself. Do not panic.

"Eggman's choking on something." Rouge's heels clicked loudly as she ran off to check on him. She heard him gurgling softly. "Eggman's _drowning_."

"Roll him on his side," Shadow instructed, "God, why are Overlanders so useless?!"

The hedgehog was absentmindedly humming the bars to Mr. Sandman and didn't realize it.

Sheptilah's body was pale and cold. The edges of the gaping wound came together with a silvery sparkle and healed itself.

After a moment her pupils appeared and she sat up, gasping for air between shrieks. She wasn't fully back to normal as her brain was starved for oxygen while she was bleeding out. The world seemed to melt around her and the faces of her friends contorted like smeared paint.

Although the Oracle Stone was in control of her body's movements it still couldn't prevent her organs from reacting to dying from suffocation.

"Stop yelling," Shadow tried to calm her, "You're okay. You're alive."

The witch's eyes darted in all directions and finally settled on Shadow's. She recognized them and sobbed. She immediately pulled him into a tight hug, stroking his spines.

He allowed this for a moment before pushing her away. His fur was already filthy and matted and the last thing he needed was _more_ witch blood to wash out. _Why do I have The Chordettes stuck in my head?_ He thought. _Of all the songs…_

Ivo himself was awoken by the commotion and coughed up reddish phlegm.

"Eggman?" Rouge spoke to him softly. "Eggman, what happened?"

"I heard Gerald talking," his throat sounded like it was full of marbles, "I thought I was dying. What the Hell happened?" His head was fuzzy as if made of cotton candy.

"Sheptilah was impaled on a tree." The bat felt sick to her stomach. She pointed to the gory mess. It almost looked like someone tried to decorate a Christmas tree with paint instead of powdered snow.

Eggman coughed into his hand and looked at the red glob in his palm. "So she was right. The bond would kill me if she dies." He wondered if the blood was even his. He heard Shadow humming to himself and found it almost endearing.

After a moment the witch stood and felt her stomach. Her clothes were soaked in her own blood and she almost slipped on the drops that puddled underneath her feet. She took a few shuddering breaths and swallowed hard.

"Is anyone hurt?" She asked the group.

"Physically? We are okay. Mentally? We are going to need a _lot_ of therapy." Eggman laughed to himself.

Sheptilah scooted up to Eggman and Rouge and hugged them both tightly, "I'm so sorry," she sighed, "I'm so sorry. Maybe we should just forget everything and go." The witch hung her head with shame.

"No way! We came for a book and a Chaos Emerald and we're not leaving without either." Rouge was putting on a brave face.

"We shouldn't sit still for long," Shadow's shoes scraped the glass painfully, "If those damned witch-eaters are around."

"They may not even be real." Eggman pointed out. "In the same way that nothing in this room is actually real. It's _solid_ but it doesn't truly exist."

Sheptilah got to her feet and looked around. In the distance she thought she saw the figure of a little girl in blue run by. "You would be surprised how real fake things can be." She reabsorbed her lost blood.

"I heard your voice tell me it wasn't real." Rouge adjusted her earpiece. "You did say that, right?"

"I don't know," the witch was looking around for movement, "But the voices aren't real. _Something_ is projecting them."

"It asked what I was afraid of and it used a name I haven't called myself by in decades." Eggman absentmindedly tapped his fingers on his gauntlet.

"So it's digging into our memories." Rouge paced back and forth nervously, "It's aggressive and it's attacking us outright."

"No kidding. My own home trying to kill me… something else is influencing its magic." Sheptilah tied her hair in a knot to keep it out of her face.

"The witch-eaters?" Shadow felt a chill creeping up his spine.

"Or the Chaos Emerald," Sheptilah heard footsteps approaching, "Something's coming."

"Shadow! Come play with me!" A small feminine voice called to him through the trees.

"No…" His ruby eyes grew wide and his hands trembled. "It can't be…"

"Maria…" Ivo's eyes grew wide. It was his cousin who was murdered over fifty years prior. "Shadow…" He looked at the black hedgehog who met Eggman's eyes and nodded with understanding.

Maria's slight figure emerged from the trees with her hands behind her back. She was a young teenage girl not unlike Hope with blonde hair and blue eyes and a matching blue dress.

"Come play, Shadow. We can listen to The Chordettes on Grandpa Gerald's records like you like." She was bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Go away," Shadow turned away from the figure, "You're not Maria."

"How can you say that?" The figure pouted. "It's me. This place is magical! I came all the way here to say hi. Mobius looks nothing like I thought it would. Is this ice?"

"Leave-" Sheptilah stepped forward and recognized something and froze in place with fear. Those eyes. She's seen them before.

"Why are you so mean, Queen Sheptilah?" The figure stomped her foot.

"Leave," Eggman stepped forward this time and drew his gun, "Now."

"You'd shoot your own cousin?!" The figure sniffled and cried. "Ivo, no!"

"Eggman," Shadow hissed, "Put it away." His heart was aching hearing her voice again. It had been so long since she was murdered for the only sin she ever committed: helping Shadow escape the ARK colony purge. Every word spoken in her voice was like another stab in his chest.

Ivo hesitated and then put the weapon back in his pocket.

"What's behind your back?" Sheptilah cautiously inched closer. "Show it to me."

"My name is Maria Robotnik and I was murdered by another human." The figure spoke as if she was practicing a line for a TV commercial. "I lived in the Space Colony ARK and was dying in my own body. I am fourteen years old. Shadow is my friend. I died because of Shadow. Shadow The Hedgehog is why I am dead."

"What's behind your back?" Rouge pressed.

"A Chaos Emerald!" The figure revealed it with a big smile, "And it's _green!_ As green as the Mobius I never got to see in person!"

Rouge was already calculating ways to steal the Emerald from the ghost when Sheptilah suddenly jumped forward and grabbed the figure by the throat with magic and squeezed.

Maria's ghost dropped the gem and struggled against the invisible grip holding her in the air.

Rouge immediately lunged for it and held it in her arms as if it was a baby. The Emerald was real.

"Where is my grimoire?!" Sheptilah demanded. "Show it to me!"

"Shadow, help!" Maria's doppelganger cried. "She's hurting me!"

"Sheptilah, stop!" Shadow clenched his fists. " _Drop her._ "

"She's not real, Shadow!" The witch bent the figure backwards so far the spine would have snapped if she was real. The trees began to fall apart like a closing umbrella and the crystalline twinkling sound they made was almost as delicate as Maria's suffocating voice.

"Shadow!" Maria's voice grew more pained. "Shadow..."

"Sheptilah, _let Maria go,_ " Shadow's world was spinning. He was starting to forget the apparition wasn't real.

"She's going to kill me," the figure sobbed and choked, "Aim for her Oracle Stone!"

The hedgehog could not take it anymore and threw jetted forward on his skates and punched the witch directly on the jaw. The impact sent the woman flying and dropped the figure of Maria.

Eggman ran to the witch's aid and hoped her face wasn't caved in.

"Screw kick!" Rouge shouted as she flew up and shoved her spinning heel into Shadow's clavicle. The wind was knocked out of him and he too was thrown back but rolled into a ball to soften his landing.

The glass forest all at once became a whirling tidal wave of deadly shards rushing at them.


	15. When Can I See You Again?

Sheptilah awoke in a darkness so oppressive it almost hurt to have her eyes open. She felt around and realized she was underground in a very small space.

She strained her ears hoping to hear something.

Silence.

 _Dead silence._

Her heart nearly beat out of her throat. She began to scream and scream but her words found no ears to nestle in.

She tried to dig herself out with her nails but she was afraid of suffocating if the packed dirt walls collapsed on top of her.

Then an idea. She'd search for Eggman and warp to him.

Inhaling deeply the witch tried to calm herself and 'looked' for the man.

She felt around for a snag- hoping to find a knotted piece of the Universe to open a portal with.

 **Dreamscape 5: [There's No Place I'd] Rather Be**

Rouge was in an empty city. Red and gray brick townhouses with cloth awnings over the windows stretched down steep hills. Cute storefronts bursting with fruits, flowers and antique furniture had their doors open but nobody shopping or running the registers. Colorful bicycles with wicker baskets leaned against manicured trees and vintage parked cars.

A cool, gentle breeze scented with lemon made the leaves rustle quietly.

Rouge looked around suspiciously but heard nothing out of the ordinary. She walked downhill slowly and cautiously with the Chaos Emerald tucked under her arm.

After a moment Sheptilah appeared from a storefront with a paper bag full of groceries.

"Rouge! You're okay!" Sheptilah sighed, "I was so worried."

"Tilly!" The bat embraced her warmly. "You found food?"

"Yes! Would you like some? I only have fruits since I don't eat meat."

"No, thank you. Are you sure it's real?" Rouge was feeling hunger pangs in her stomach. How long had they been in the ziggurat?

"I summoned it with my magic. It's real food." The witch reached in the bag and pulled out a shiny red apple. It was so beautiful it could've been mistaken for a jewel.

" _Well_..." Rouge hesitated and then took the fruit and bit into it. The apple was juicy and tasted amazingly sweet. It was room temperature; Rouge would've preferred it to be cold but beggars cannot be choosers.

"I'm glad you still have the Chaos Emerald," Sheptilah nodded, "I was afraid you would've dropped it between rooms." The two continued to walk downhill at a leisurely pace, enjoying the calmness.

"Don't worry! I have a death grip on this thing. Have you seen Shadow or Eggman?" Rouge spoke with her mouth full.

"No," Sheptilah frowned, "And I guess you haven't, either."

"Nuh uh," she held the Emerald tighter, "I figure if we keep moving around something will happen." Rouge looked over Sheptilah curiously. "Aren't you hurt?"

"From what?" She paused to think, "Oh, when the hedgehog hit me? No. I can heal myself, remember?" She smiled.

"He really packs a punch; I was afraid your face would be mush." Rouge carelessly threw the apple core over her shoulder. Sheptilah chuckled to herself and kept her eyes fixed at a point in the distance.

"Why aren't you eating?" Rouge wiped her lips with the back of her hand, "Aren't you starving, too?"

"Nah," Sheptilah adjusted the bag, "I had some already and I am saving this for the boys. They're probably worse off than we are."

"What would they do without us?"

"Die, probably." The witch grinned.

Rouge thought her reaction was strange but they were all extremely stressed. She wondered if Sheptilah was just delirious from blood loss. She was still covered in wet stains. _It should have dried by now,_ Rouge thought, _didn't she absorb it all back? I can't remember if she did or not..._

"When we get out of here I am going to take you shopping for some real clothes." Rouge loved makeovers and Tilly was the perfect subject for her to work on. The bat wanted to have good thoughts rolling while walking around the death trap.

"Don't I have to give you some jewels first?" Sheptilah flashed a fang. "Speaking of- what exactly do those gems do? How do you even use them?" She pointed her chin at the Emerald.

 _Did she always have sharp eyeteeth?_ Rouge thought to herself, _I can't remember that, either._

"Pretty much anyone can use the Emeralds for anything they want if they gather enough. Some people like Sonic and Shadow can go super and do godlike things. Shadow doesn't even need more than one in his possession to warp around.

Chaos energy is really difficult to control. I just like it because it's a giant gemstone." Rouge held the Emerald up to her cheek and gently nuzzled it as if it was a baby.

"I did a search for a familiar earlier but all I got as feedback were some jumbled memories and I can't figure out who it was from but I do know that I already met them."

Rouge could have sworn Sheptilah's words matched her lips when she spoke. Usually when the Oracle Stone translated her words it was like a bad dub of an old movie. _There was no way she could have learned English in such a short time span._

Sheptilah pulled another apple from the bag and offered it to Rouge. The bat gratefully took it and munched on it, noting that it was a little softer than the first one. "I saw a gold streak roaring across the sky above the planet and a world made of food and something about a girl with blue eyes."

 _That could be a lot of people. A lot of us have blue eyes. But that gold streak... was it Sonic's super form? Did she see the fight against the Biolizard?_

"Hmm." Rouge chewed loudly. "So you saw your familiar's memories?"

"Yes." Sheptilah avoided eye-contact with the bat.

"What else did you see?"

"A feeling of falling rapidly. I think maybe a feeling of extreme guilt? Something black becoming round and sharp again." Sheptilah sounded spaced out, "And being shot in the chest with a gun."

" _I think I know who your familiar is._ " But before Rouge could say anything more the witch's head whipped around and sneered wide to show off a mouth filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Rouge felt like her mouth was full of writhing worms. She looked at the apple in her hand and saw it was rotten and crawling with bugs. She dropped to her knees and started vomiting uncontrollably.

Between gasps for air she opened her stinging, tear-filled eyes and saw maggots wriggling on the cobblestone drowning in her sickness.

"Thanks for the information, _bat_." All at once the figure of Sheptilah melted into a white witch-eater and grabbed the Chaos Emerald with its gooey 'hands'.

It attempted to use its power but the concentrated Chaos energy filling the crystal proved too much for the creature to handle and it exploded with a piercing shriek; vaporizing instantly and leaving the pristine gem behind.

 **Dreamscape 6: I Was Made For Loving You**

Eggman groaned softly and rolled over, having found himself in a warm and fluffy bed under a down comforter. He couldn't open his eyes and instead felt around with his ungloved hand in the sheets. His fingertips bumped into something and he traced it. It was the shape of a woman.

She giggled with delight. "Ivo!" It was a voice he hadn't heard in years.

"Lucinda?" He managed to force his eyes open, "Lucinda is that really you?"

"Ivo, honey…" The figure gestured to herself. "Who else would it be?"

Eggman was very confused. He hadn't even thought of his high school crush in the longest time. She didn't look like she aged at all. She still had those bright eyes, rosy cheeks and wavy red hair like he remembered.

"You work too hard, you know. All those sleeping pills the doctors had you try still leaves you confused in the morning." She gently patted Eggman's head. "You're okay."

Eggman sat up and observed it was his old bedroom from years ago except there were some stuffed children's toys on the floor. They were hedgehogs in pink and blue with little green buttons for eyes.

He looked at his bare hand and saw he was wearing a silver wedding ring.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Two little voices threw his door open and rushed in. "It's Christmas!" They were twin girls who couldn't have been older than five years with hair as red as their mother's. One had short hair and the other had very long hair.

 _Christmas? I don't even celebrate that holiday_ \- His train of thought was interrupted by the little girls jumping on the bed.

"Girls, please!" Lucinda tried to calm them. "Don't jump on the bed." She got out and put on her robe and slippers.

"Sorry, mom." The twins spoke in unison.

" _Daddy_ ," the one with short hair whined, "Nanny says we can't open presents until you're up so come on! Get up!" He was relieved to see they didn't inherit his eyes.

He felt better, calmer and more at home. Maybe it was all a vivid dream brought on by sleeping medications.

Two familiar faces knocked on the door frame. It was Sheptilah and Shadow. They shyly peeked their heads in the room

"Masters," Sheptilah bowed, "May we come in?"

"Yes, of course." Lucinda invited them in. Both Shadow and Sheptilah were wearing matching servant uniforms in black and gold.

"We apologize for the disturbance but," the short-haired girl ran up to the hedgehog, grabbed his hands and bounced, "But Mistresses Ivana and Rosie were too excited about it being Christmas morning." Shadow couldn't help but smile at the sweet little girl.

"Shadow? _Shadow the hedgehog?_ " Eggman was confused again. "Good heavens, man."

"Yes, Master Robotnik," he bowed his head slightly, "Are you alright?" He looked very worried.

 _Nobody calls me Robotnik anymore_. He was highly alert and kept careful note of everyone's movements and words. _This must be another room. I'm trapped in another room._ It was easy to figure that wasn't the real Sheptilah or Shadow. He resolved to play along until he could find a way out.

"Maybe after some breakfast you will feel better. Mistress Maria will be here any minute with her children. Shadow and I made our famous skyscraper pancakes!" Sheptilah boasted, "the kind you like."

"Well, I _do_ like pancakes," Eggman got out of bed and found he was already fully dressed.

"Come on, girls." Shadow, with Sheptilah's assistance ushered them out of the room. From down the hall Eggman could hear them struggle to keep the girls from tearing open presents.

"I'm so glad we ended up hiring them both instead of just one," Lucinda grabbed Eggman's arm and held it close, "Who knew we'd have twins?"

"Thanks for the exposition," he resisted her touch but became comfortable with it after a moment, "Where is the grimoire?"

"Oh, I see" Lucinda smiled at him, "So you know."

"Yes," he flinched when her grip on his bicep tightened.

"Dearest Ovi Kintobor, I have an offer for you." Lucinda's figure shut her eyes and rested her cheek on Eggman's shoulder.

"What kind of offer?" The hallway they were walking in stretched in forever.

"I am the ziggurat's core itself. I can do anything for you within these stone walls. I developed sentience after five thousand long and lonely years." The figure of Lucinda faded and the world around them dissolved and became something new.

It was now Eggman's office with Sonic standing in the corner with his ankles chained together and looking despondent. The once stunning blue hedgehog was now a bit paler and his spines kept woefully blunted to prevent any uprising. His wrists and ankles were scarred from years of being shackled. He dare not make eye contact with his master. In his hands was a golden tray with a fresh cup of coffee.

The figure of Lucinda was now Katella, another redhead from Eggman's past. Busty and brutal, Katella was not a woman Eggman remembered fondly. She was too rough with the merchandise, so to speak.

"Come, hedgehog," the woman motioned for him to bring the coffee to Eggman. The projection of Sonic shuffled uncomfortably and silently presented the drink with his head down.

"This is _sick._ " Eggman refused the drink, "None of this is what I want."

"Isn't this what _all_ men want? Ultimate power. Their own personal slaves that don't speak or run. What else could you want?"

"What is it that _you_ want?" Eggman had had enough.

"You are a tough one to figure out," Katella circled him, "I can see that in your heart you want this. You want to be loved, adored and to have Sonic grovelling at your feet."

"It isn't real," he kept his eyes on her, "So it means nothing."

"I _see…_ I know what your fear is now. The witch, the hedgehog and the bat were quite simple to figure out but you… " The mirage pressed her finger accusingly over Eggman's heart. "You're afraid of stagnation."

"Or so you think," Eggman tried to keep his head clear so the 'core' couldn't read it.

"You changed your name many times," Katella counted off on her fingers. "You changed your appearance many times and well...you also keep changing your goals. Stop resisting and stay . Stay here with me and I can be whatever you want me to be at any time. Stay with me forever." She cooed at him.

"Where is the grimoire, the Chaos Emerald and the others I came in with?"

"Is that what you want-" the figure paused and had a thousand-yard stare. Eggman watched the ghost stop moving altogether. A portal opened up beside him, almost inside him, and out stepped the real Sheptilah.

"Gah!" Her hair was matted with dirt and blood, "That would've been _uncomfortable_ if you were standing a little closer."

"Tilly?" Eggman stepped back.

"The one and only!" She beamed despite being absolutely filthy.

"How do I know it's really you?" He squinted at her behind his dark glasses.

"I had to convince Thunderbolt to not walk in on you in the shower today by gently punting her down the hall."

" _It's you!_ " He gripped her shoulders tightly. "Don't leave me alone in this cursed place ever again."

"Ivo, _please stop touching me_ ," she struggled to breathe, "All day you have been hands-on and it's _weird_."

"Sorry," he let go, "What happened to you?"

"The room I was just in buried me underground and I'm extremely claustrophobic. I literally dug myself out by my nails. I'm fucking _pissed_." She spat out a chunk of dirt.

"Okay, then." He made a mental note to not trap her anywhere cramped.

" _You_ ," Sheptilah stepped up to the projection of Katella which was still frozen in place, "I have had enough of this nonsense." She reached behind her head and removed the rusty athame from its sheath and stabbed the image with it in the throat.

She then sliced in the shape of a pentagram and uttered some ancient cleansing spell, the words making themselves visible on the blade in her language. The magic flowed from her stone into her hands and twisted like dark purple vines around her fingers and onto the athame. The projection fizzled into smoke and the room returned to its natural state: sandstone with empty clay jars.

Sheptilah was panting and sweaty with exertion. "Now let's go find my book."

She opened another portal and stuck her head in to check for danger. When she was satisfied that it was safe enough she pulled Eggman in with her.

 **Daydreamscape: More And More**

Eggman and Sheptilah hopped through portals in a frenzy. She cut locks of her hair and dropped them to mark off the rooms they had already been in and dispelled the mirages in each of them.

The first dozen rooms were simple with nothing special in it as the genius loci was busy tormenting others elsewhere. It felt like hours before they found Rouge's room.

The bat was curled up into a fetal position on the ground, holding the Chaos Emerald to her aching stomach.

"Rouge!" Eggman knelt beside her and saw the poor woman was soaked with cold sweat.

"Eggman?" she weakly replied, "Are you the real Sheptilah and Eggman or are you more figments?"

"We're the real deal. What happened to you?" Tilly sat next to her and gently brushed the hair out of Rouge's face.

"Don't take apples from witches;" she managed to crack a smile, "That's what happened to me."

"Can you heal her?" Ivo asked Tilly.

The witch was still panting from exhaustion but nodded, "I have just enough to boost her." She laid a hand on Rouge's cheek and the magic flowed into the bat, curing her nausea and dehydration. The Chaos Emerald released some energy in response to Sheptilah's and it shocked her arm badly.

"Ow!" She shrieked. Her arm had burn marks on it from her fingertips up to her elbow.

Rouge sat up and flexed her wings. She was overjoyed to not be sick anymore.

"Why'd your gem hurt me?" Tilly was rubbing her arm to get feeling back. It was the same kind of pain and numbness felt when your limb falls asleep.

"Oh… the same thing happened to a witch-eater when it tried to use the emerald." Rouge rubbed her eyes, "I don't think it's ever done that."

"Let's go find Shadow," Eggman helped the women to their feet. "We'll figure the rest out later."

 **Dreamscape 7: Message In A Bottle**

Shadow found himself standing alone on a beach. The water was dark and looked oily in the orange sunset. The hedgehog could look directly at the setting star and not hurt his eyes. The sound of the water lapping against the shore was calming. Shadow's fist throbbed dully. He couldn't remember what he did to injure it. He flexed his hand to ease the pain and his knuckles cracked back into place.

"Shads!" He heard Sonic's voice call. He blinked and saw the blue hedgehog standing in the sea with the water up to his shoulders.

"I'm so glad to see you!" Sonic struggled to smile. "Help me out of here!"

"You aren't real." Shadow shook his head and realized the gear he was wearing was gone. He looked around for it and found nothing. He looked behind him and saw the empty landscape stretch for miles like the first room and turned back to face the water.

"Dude, _come on_." Sonic urged. "I found myself warped here. I'm in a concrete block or something. I've been trapped here for hours and the tide came in and if you don't get me out of here I'm going to drown."

"You're a mirage." Shadow insisted.

"I know I'm a sight for sore eyes but a mirage is a little much, don't you think?" Sonic spat out sea water. "Dude…"

"How did you get here?" Shadow brushed sand out of his spines, "That is, if you're not a faker."

"Remember? I wanted to come along so badly! I followed Queen Sheptilah and the doctor all the way out here. I snuck into the building and it attacked me." Sonic was tilting his head back as far as he could, long black nose sticking out of the water like a dinghy.

Shadow weighed the pros and cons. If it really was a mirage he would gladly beat it to a pulp; if it really was Sonic he would get to lord this favor over him _forever_.

The black hedgehog stepped forward and the water split apart revealing half-buried rusted car parts. It was strange how the water was avoiding even touching Shadow; almost as if it was afraid of him.

He found it difficult to keep from tripping on the debris crunching beneath his shoes but made it to Sonic after a few moments. He looked back to the shore and he couldn't see it. It was as if the ocean stretched on forever.

"My hero." The blue hedgehog smirked. His arms were behind his back and he was up to his chest in the block. Shadow punched the block with lightning-fast reflexes and it crumbled to dust. Sonic stretched and rotated his shoulders.

"Thanks, Shads!" He sighed. "I wish I didn't tag along. Thought I was going to drown."

"Have you seen a door? A portal? _Anything?_ " Shadow was not about to play small talk with a mirage.

"All I saw today was a whole lotta beach." Sonic suddenly paused and stared off in the distance.

Shadow peered blankly at the blue hedgehog for a moment and then waved his hand in front of soulless green eyes.

"What? Oh, sorry." Sonic's demeanor changed. "Race you to the shore!" he sped off as a blue smear to the shoreline and waved at an unbelieving Shadow who was still standing in the parted waters.

Shadow simply walked back calmly, the water now only as deep as his knees.

"It's no fun when you don't put your all into it." Sonic kicked a hubcap away dejectedly.

"You're a very convincing fake," Shadow pointed a finger at Sonic, "But I still know a bootleg when I see one."

"Oh, whatever." Sonic's figure leaned forward as if he was suspended by the tail. "It's also no fun when you don't play along." His body started to bubble and expand like he was boiling in his own skin. The blue and peach pelt burst apart like cheap velvet and exposed the witch-eater within.

This one was different from the others. It looked the same but it could speak- and that made it _very_ dangerous.

Shadow formed a Chaos Spear in each hand and was ready to strike.

The witch-eater backed up and remained hunched over its viscous, drippy body.

"Shadow the hedgehog," it spoke with no mouth, "I know what you are. Do you know _what_ you are?"

"I am Shadow the hedgehog, Ultimate Lifeform. That is what I am."

"Do you know what _I_ am?" The being's voice sounded like Shadow's own.

"You are scum."

"I am me," the vile creature straightened up, "And I am here to end your life before you can end mine."

"Fat chance!" Shadow hurled the energy at the beast and it dodged the blasts effortlessly but did not retaliate.

"You may have noticed you cannot teleport here," the creature's voice bounced in Shadow's skull distortedly, "Thus far I have not figured out how to stop your spears."

"I've had _enough_ of your nonsense." Shadow jumped upward and threw more bolts which also missed its target. Glass discs formed on the sand where the spears struck. Under these discs appeared to be portals much like the ones the witch could open.

The hedgehog noticed this and grinned. He didn't have to hit the beast- just everything else around it until it's cornered.

A door opened over the sea. Eggman, Sheptilah and Rouge fell through it with their hands clasped together in a circle. The trio landed with a loud splash but not before Shadow could hear the witch screaming apologies for her bad aim.

Rouge flew up out of the water and spiraled toward the creature at the shore and kicked it in the jaw. The fluid beast absorbed her impact and flung her upward. Rouge twisted so she was right-side-up and landed safely on the sand.

Eggman and Sheptilah popped their heads out of the now waist-deep water and tried to walk to the shore but were met with rusty metal slicing up their legs and feet. Eggman scooped up the witch in his arms and carried her. His boots protected his feet from getting too badly injured but Sheptilah, by virtue of being barefoot, was unable to even stand on her own since her leg looked like cheap sashimi.

"Shadow, catch!" Rouge threw the Emerald at him. He caught it in his hand and used its power to create a massive Chaos Spear and aimed it at the water away from the two Overlanders.

The resulting energy surge caused the entire Ziggurat to shake violently.

Omega was nearly knocked off the summit of the building from the tremors. That was the final straw for him. Everyone had been missing from communication for over six hours and GUN agents were unable to get to them. It was time to blow apart the problem.

"I'm going in!" Omega announced to Cabbot and Hope.

"Wait a second-" Hope's exasperated little voice fell on deaf ears. Omega was already punching and blasting his way inside. The robot was careful enough to take out one wall at a time as he was looking for his comrades and, unfortunately, Eggman. GUN agents followed the robot in.

Back at the 'beach' Shadow and Rouge were each taking turns attacking the cackling monster while Eggman was doing his best to keep Sheptilah from bleeding to death.

"You owe me so much when we get back." Eggman flinched when the ziggurat rumbled again. " _If_ we get back." He was squeezing her calf to stop the flow as much as possible. He did not do well with blood and was getting queasy.

"I know, I know!" Sheptilah writhed with pain. "Whatever you want just hold my leg closed! I feel like I'm going to faint."

"Don't faint- you may not wake up again." He wasn't being dramatic.

"I'm trying not to… I feel like I'm falling asleep!" She grit her teeth.

"I was talking to myself!" Eggman huffed.

"I don't feel good." She whined.

"I am here to save the meatbags." A robotic voice announced itself. It was Omega, making a grand entrance by punching a wall out. This caused the illusion to fully fizzle out and reveal the room for what it was: empty but quite large.

"Omega!" Shadow and Rouge shouted in unison.

"I am impatient." The robot beeped.

Shadow cornered the creature and was able to use one final Chaos Spear to destroy the witch-eater before it could rebuild the room. The being exploded in all directions with a ear-splitting shriek and vanished like water vapor.

"I'm so happy to see you, Omega." Rouge stood and brushed herself off. "We must look awful."

"Your appearance is unchanged." The robot beeped. Rouge scoffed at the unintentional insult. GUN agents immediately tended to Sheptilah's more dangerous wounds with their first-aid kits and carried her and the limping Eggman to the ship outside.

"We can't leave until we find the grimoire." Rouge explained to the other agents.

"We found a big book in a crystalline box on our way down, actually." The red fox nodded. "It's already been loaded into the ship by one of our larger agents."

"Well that's _extremely_ convenient." Shadow smirked and held up the Emerald. "At least one of our targets today was easy to acquire. We went through Hell to get this."

" _Several_ Hells." Rouge corrected him. "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Shadow. Just be grateful this excursion to Tilly's house over."


	16. Stay With Me

"You should really take a gentleman out to dinner before you handcuff him to something!" Eggman joked. "This is wholly unnecessary."

A female Overlander in GUN-issued nursing scrubs rolled her eyes and scoffed. Eggman tried to get comfortable in the hospital bed but he just couldn't. He was also dressed in those flimsy, drafty cotton gowns they issue all of the patients.

He felt especially naked without his gauntlet. They at least let him keep his glasses.

"Why can't I just go to a hospital of my choice?" He shifted his weight and the cuffs clinked against the bars of the bed.

"Because you have been a thorn in our side since…" The nurse crossed her arms. "Since whatever day you were born." She tried to storm off but her squeaking shoes dulled the bite.

Ivo's leg was bandaged tightly and the wound throbbed painfully with each heartbeat. The cuts were so superficial all they needed was to be cleaned and glued shut. He was fit enough to be released immediately but no- those _damned_ unjust GUN officials wanted to keep him prisoner.

* * *

Rouge stood under the shower-head just leaning against the tile. She was so tired and felt so disgusting she barely had the energy to wash herself. Through sheer willpower alone she managed to get the bulk of the filth off and pull on her pajamas.

She flopped into her big, cushy bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

Shadow sat in a hot bath furiously scrubbing his fur. The witch blood would not come out no matter how much soap he used. "This must be how Lady Macbeth felt." He muttered to himself. _Out, damned spot!_

He remembered an old trick Maria taught him when it was nearing the end of her life: blood comes out with hydrogen peroxide.

 _Grandpa tells me it causes blood cells to lyse… that means break apart, he could remember her little voice teaching him, you pour it on the stained thing and it bubbles! And the blood washes out._

He pouted; the medicine cabinet was on the other side of the room and he was comfortable in the water.

The hedgehog groaned and got out, careful not to slip on the cold tile. He grabbed the brown bottle of the peroxide and got back into the warmth of the tub. He began by pouring a few drops on his extended arm and expected it to bubble but there was no reaction.

He poured on a little more but still nothing. Then he flipped the bottle and read the underside.

"Expiration date August fifteenth, two-thousand-and-one. This expired before I was even _resurrected_." He groaned loudly and set the bottle on the edge of the tub and slipped under the water leaving only his ears poking out.

 _Of course it's expired. It wouldn't be my daily life if things didn't go wrong._

* * *

Sheptilah awoke to find her left arm was burning and she couldn't move her right leg. She pulled back the blanket to see that she had black marks all up her arm and a rash where a blood transfusion IV was taped to her skin.

She reached to pull the offending needle out but was met by scolding.

"Do _not_ take that out." Shadow hissed. He was sitting next to the bed in a chair, feet swinging absentmindedly as he read a thick paperback. Although Sheptilah couldn't read the cover it was _House Of Leaves._

Her heart rate monitor beeped with her startled jump. "Shadow! You nearly scared me to death."

"I am told you bit a doctor so I am here to make sure you do not do that again." He didn't look up from his book.

"I don't remember biting anyone." She ran her tongue over her teeth. "Why would I do that? Ugh, my mouth feels like it's full of cotton."

"Welcome to the GUN hospital wing," he turned a crisp page, "Where sometimes our doctors are chew toys." The beeping on the monitor slowed as she calmed down.

"Is this blood?" She gestured to the plastic bags hanging from a metal rack. One was red and one was clear and both had tubes that met in a small cylinder at the ends that slowly dripped into the tube leading to her arm.

"Blood and saline." He turned another page. "You lost a lot of blood. Most of it in my own fur."

"Whose blood is this?" She was slightly disgusted by the idea.

"Another human donor. It's anonymous so we don't know their identity. Apparently O- is in high demand so you should consider donating when you're not recovering from being impaled on glass trees."

"Here..." She reached out her palm and curled her fingers as if grabbing something. This caused the dried blood that still clung to his fur to disappear into a dusty powder and be absorbed back into her hand.

Shadow ran his hand over his now clean fluff. "Thanks," he paused, "I also want to apologize for sucker-punching you."

"No, it's alright. You hit my jaw. I can heal my jaw and I barely felt it. Had you hit my Oracle Stone you would've killed _everyone_." She brushed off the attack; she knew it wasn't his fault.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow.

"My stone holds all my magic so if it breaks, even a little crack, it unleashes all that energy at once and it goes off like…" She made an explosion sound and gestured with her hands.

" _Wait_ ," he remembered the 'Maria' figure urging him to punch the stone and at the last second he aimed upward instead of downward, "I almost killed everyone?"

"Yeah. Everyone. You would've taken the whole ziggurat with you and then some. We'd be scorch marks right now if you didn't aim at my mouth. So… thank you. Thank you for splitting my lip and not my stone." She watched the mixture of blood and saline drip.

"The ziggurat tried to kill us all?" What else almost happened in there? He felt dread creep up over the back of his neck.

"No. Whatever was controlling it was." Sheptilah sighed, "Something was controlling it. Or someone- and it knew about our stones and what it does."

She struggled to sit up. She just couldn't seem to get the leverage to scoot upward and laid back down with defeat. She tried to bend her knees and learned she was cuffed to the bed by her ankles.

"Why am I being restrained? I want to speak to Mr. Cabbot."

"Because you bit a doctor." He was finding it hard to concentrate on the page before him and shut the book, "Did you know you talk in your sleep?"

"I do?" She sounded dreamy. "Did I say anything nice?"

"You were calling for Hebat; your old familiar."

"Precious Hebat," the witch sighed, "I miss her so much. I wonder…" Tilly was a little loopy due to pain medications and drifted off without finishing her thought.

"Wonder what?"

"I wonder if I could bring her back." She sighed softly. "My little pink armadillo."

"Bringing back the dead?" His stomach knotted.

"Yes..." She held the 'sss' longer than necessary.

"Bad idea. Bringing back the dead is… impossible, isn't it?" Impossible wasn't the word he wanted. Shadow wanted to say 'sacrilegious'.

"Is it? I never tried. It's probably possible but…" She coughed, "Oh so forbidden. I would give my life to have Hebat back, though. I don't know who my new familiar is but I am scared to death of them. I am pretty sure I've already met them. That's what scares me so much; I felt things and what I felt..."

Sheptilah shut her eyes and her words slurred a little, "I don't want that familiar. I don't want to know who is holding those secrets."

"Would the Universe really pair you up with someone or something so vile?"

"Well, it paired me up with Eggman."

"Fair enough."

"I'm just… I'm just afraid my familiar will hurt me. Sometimes bad pairs do happen. It's rare but I've executed people for abusing their familiars before. It happens. From what I've seen and felt this being is uncontrollable and vicious. Dangerous. Has killed before without reason or remorse. There was a human child involved, too, or something."

Sheptilah's head hurt from trying to recall what she saw.

"What if my destiny is to just die? Go out with a very large bang like the ziggurat wanted. Am I supposed to take Eggman and my familiar down with me because the Universe deemed them so awful?"

Shadow was uncomfortable. He almost wanted to go back to talking of necromancy.

"Can you talk to the dead?" He changed the subject.

"Sure, that's easy!" She was talking fast and excitedly. "All you need is a talking board and-"

"Yay- you're awake!" Rouge popped her head in the door and grinned at the witch. Then she saw the hedgehog and her face became serious. "Shadow, can I talk to you for a second? In private?"

The hedgehog sighed and stood up, metal shoes clicking on the ground. He dropped his book on the seat and walked into the hallway with Rouge.

The poor bat was so nervous her wings were twitching.

"Shadow, do you know what you are?" She asked in a small voice so that nobody could overhear.

"A half-alien half-Mobian hedgehog hybrid known as the The Ultimate Lifeform?"

"Yes, but…" She looked around to make sure they were alone. "You know how the witch is looking for her familiar?"

"Yes…" Shadow was growing suspicious. _Don't you dare say it, Rouge,_ he thought.

"I think you're it."

"Rouge, that is _not_ funny."

"I'm serious!" She bit her lip. "The ziggurat came to me when we were separated as a figment of Sheptilah and it asked me questions and when I figured out it was you it… it disappeared."

Shadow put his finger in the air to silence her. "You've gone batty."

Rouge blushed and crossed her arms indignantly. "If you were anyone else I would have your jaw on the floor."

"I am nobody's _pet_." He spat the word out with vitriol. "We will go sort this out right now." He took Rouge by the wrist and walked her back into the room where Sheptilah was lying.

Cabbot was in there sitting with her in the chair Shadow once occupied. They were talking softly about his wife and her condition.

"She's doing just fine, it's you I'm worried about." Cabbot undid the cuffs on her ankles. Sheptilah instantly felt better and thanked him.

"I'm alright. The only reason I'm still all messed up is because I was unfortunately attacked with iron. The painkillers are only dulling the ache a little. Has Hope gone through the footage yet? I still don't understand the concept of movies." Sheptilah's mind wandered again. "I wonder what is there."

"She's got a lot of recordings to go through even though some of you lost the gear so it'll be some time before she goes through it all." He heard footsteps approaching.

"Rouge and Shadow," Boris turned and saw them standing in the doorway, "Come in."

Tilly waved at them cheerfully.

"Poor thing got dozens of stitches in her leg," Cabbot smiled at the witch, "She says you were talking about necromancy?"

"Yes. I was telling her that is an idiotic idea." Shadow squinted at her. The witch shrugged innocently.

"I want to state for the record that I am sorry for biting that doctor," she frowned, "Are they ok?"

Rouge smiled. "Oh, Tilly. It wasn't a bad bite you just didn't want to be stabbed with a needle. You didn't even leave a mark. You nibbled at best."

"Oh. Well, when can I leave? There's something I need to do." She looked at Cabbot.

"First you need to get your grimoire and separate yourself from Eggman so we can be done with him." The bat's wings still twitched even though she was doing her best to keep it together and not blurt out her hypothesis on the witch's familiar.

Sheptilah gasped. "It's _here?_ "

"Eggman and the grimoire are both still here." Shadow nodded.

Sheptilah threw back the blanket and looked down at her legs. They were all bandaged up nicely. She carefully flexed her toes and determined she would be able to stand on them.

"Wait a second-" Cabbot was interrupted by Tilly jumping out of the bed and unsteadily placing her weight on her 'good' leg. The motion pulled the short tubes connected to the IVs, nearly knocking over the rack.

"I'm okay." Tilly smiled with her hands on her hips.

"Listen," Rouge caught the pole holding the IVs, "You are gonna hurt yourself."

"But I'm so close!" Tilly's eyes were wild with agitation and excitement.

"You need to take it easy and we'll escort you to it in a wheelchair." Cabbot lightly rested his hand on her shoulder. He needed her magic and would be very upset if the witch would be unable to heal his wife.

"Please let me take this damned thing out of my arm," she pointed to the IVs, "It hurts like Hell."

She felt useless being escorted around in a wheelchair as if she was weak. Sheptilah absolutely hated not being able to move around on her own and was quietly seething from the throbbing in her leg. Strangely enough Rouge volunteered to push the chair.

They wheeled her down the hallway past Eggman's room. He was having a heated debate with the nurse from earlier that could be heard from far away.

"You are disgusting!" Her expression was indignant. "Pepperoni, scrambled eggs, ham and onions on _pizza?_ Of all the things I know about you that is the _worst_."

"Says the woman who claims she puts anchovies on her pizza," he pointed at her with his free hand, "Those bony little fish are mostly salt!"

Sheptilah gestured that she wanted to go in and talk and Rouge nodded.

"What are you so angry about now, Ivo?" Tilly tapped her fingers on the armrest.

"Hey." Eggman grunted.

" _You,_ " the nurse narrowed her eyes at the witch, "I'm surprised you are not muzzled."

"Oh!" Sheptilah blushed with shame. "You must be the person I bit. I apologize…"

"You two deserve each other." The nurse stormed off, shoes still squeaking.

"Ah, you bit _her_ ," Shadow rolled his eyes, "I'm surprised she didn't bite you in retaliation."

His quip elicited some polite chuckles in return.

"Guess what we're going to do?" Tilly clasped her hands together in her lap.

"We're going back to my lair?" Eggman guessed hopefully.

"Nope! We're getting unbonded. Some GUN soldiers found the grimoire while you were holding my leg together. I never have to see you again!" She grinned.

Eggman frowned. "You don't have to sound so enthusiastic about it."

Cabbot approached Eggman and uncuffed him so he could follow them down. Given the superficiality of his wounds he was forced to walk.

Hope sat in a big chair in the basement laboratory. Instruments quietly beeped, reading energy levels on the massive crystal with the tome inside it.

It seemed to contain a massive amount of stored energy and she couldn't tell if it was the book or the mineral surrounding it. The object already broke some of the sensors and three laptops.

"This thing is a thousand pounds of nonsense." The blonde sighed with defeat. She at least was able to determine it's not radioactive despite its bright green glow.

She went back to reviewing some of the footage extracted from the gear worn at the ziggurat excursion. There was a lot of static and hardly any speaking from any of them.

Eggman's footage was especially a jumbled, terrifying mess.

In it was nothing but blackness and then suddenly Sheptilah impaled upon the glass tree. The gory image made Hope jump and she slammed her laptop shut.

"Hello!" Rouge greeted the girl and was met by a loud yelp.

"I… sorry; you startled me." She panted. "Looks like everyone is alive and… _together_."

"More or less." Eggman's sardonic comment was mostly unappreciated.

Sheptilah stood and hopped on her good foot over to the crystal. She ran her hands over the smooth mineral and it disappeared, leaving just the book. She picked up massive the book effortlessly and hopped back over to the group.

Shadow's fur was standing on end making him look fluffier than usual. With magic the witch held the book up and opened it. She scanned through the pages all with different handwriting, inks and in some cases different languages.

"Resurrection spells, healing spells..." The witch was speaking to herself." Her expression turned to a frustrated one. "It says my familiar has to do it. They take a piece of iron and 'slice' it between the two joined spirits and it will undo the spell. All this while standing in some sigils."

"How do you find your familiar?" Shadow asked. Rouge looked at him and then at the witch.

"Finding spells… finding spells," Sheptilah flipped through the pages again. Rouge and Shadow approached the book and looked at the illustrations and writing. The book was so large the two Mobians could each fit on a page with room in the margins.

"Hmm. I can read this…" Shadow pointed. "I can read this cuneiform. All of it. Does the book allow anyone to read it in the way your stone translates speech? If so, move over; I can read much faster than you can."

"Shadow, that's not funny," Sheptilah stared at him with horror, "That is not funny."

"What's wrong?" Cabbot asked. Hope sat up and Eggman looked at Rouge.

"The book doesn't allow itself to be read by just _anyone._ This means Shadow the hedgehog is my familiar. Only a familiar can read the book. Especially one without an Oracle Stone."

You could hear a pin drop. Shadow's blood ran cold.

"I knew it," Rouge's wings flicked, " _I knew it_. I was right."

"Wait, what does this mean?" Hope stood. "What are you talking about?"

"Prove you can read this." Sheptilah pointed to a random entry.

Shadow looked at it and understood. "It's a spell for banishing nightmares using a white candle anointed with lavender oil and deadly nightshade leaves."

Pause.

"Well, is he right?" Eggman asked.

"Yes, he is." Sheptilah shut the book and knelt on her bad leg despite the pain. Her white hair pooled around her body.

"As your destined witch I will serve at your side until my death." She refused to make eye contact.

Shadow stepped back. "Wait-"

"The witch serves the familiar," she spoke through her gritted teeth, "I have said they are equals but the truth is the witch who serves."

"I don't wish to be your familiar. How do you pick someone else?"

"The Universe deemed it so. It cannot be undone. Another would be selected for me if you die."

She was angry. First the Universe decided to bond her to Eggman and again in its infinite wisdom it determined that Shadow was her familiar.

"Honestly, I'm just glad it's not Thunderbolt." Eggman was almost relieved.

"But it makes sense." Rouge stepped forward. "It makes perfect sense. You're both from different time periods. You're both powerful and the ziggurat separated you two together at first. It asked me for information on your familiar and when it figured out it was Shadow it tried to have him kill you."

"The ziggurat did that?" Hope was confused. "But it's just a building."

"No, something controlling it did that." Eggman interjected, "There's also the fact that Shadow was involved in the moon blowing up as well."

"What?" Sheptilah was stunned. "It… it wasn't just you?"

"No, it wasn't. Shadow was involved as well as Rouge. Neither of you told her?" Eggman smirked. "Sorry to spill the beans then."

Shadow shot Eggman a glare and Rouge face palmed.

"I'm being punished." Sheptilah stood and touched the still-floating grimoire. "I'm being punished. I have to work with the people that released the witch-eaters causing all this trouble. The Universe is punishing me."

" _Rude_ ," Eggman huffed, "I'm a delight."

"Sheptilah," Cabbot approached her, "You did nothing wrong. Come on, let's get you back to your bed."

"Do not come near me!" She hissed, not looking up. "And do _not_ touch me."

"Stop being so mean!" Hope raised her voice. "We would have to work together anyway to defeat these witch-eater things, right? So what difference does it make if they're 'magically' bound to you or not? Grow up. You've had five thousand years to come to terms with the possibilities and you act like a spoiled child."

"There are implications of this beyond your understanding," Tilly shot the girl a poisonous look, " _Far_ beyond."

"Then explain; tell us what these implications are." Rouge spoke softly.

"Death. Death is the implication! I know I will die regardless but what matters is who goes down with me." She stood and limped over to Hope, "I watched one familiar get torn apart and I don't want to do it again." She turned to Eggman. "You I don't particularly care about; but _you_ ," she turned to Shadow, "You're a demon in the metaphorical sense."

"You don't know anything about me," he crossed his arms defiantly, "Unlike you I face my challenges head-on and without fear or blaming others."

"I know what I saw when I was searching for you. It was not good. I don't want you as a familiar, either." Her leg was throbbing and the movement caused some of the wounds to open a bit and she was bleeding through the bandages.

"All of the deaths we saw back at Eggman's Soumerca base? That was your fault," she gestured to Eggman and the Mobians, "All of it. _You_ released those beasts when you destroyed the moon for what I'm sure was some ridiculous and selfish reason." Sheptilah's anger filled her heart with fire and her throat with bile.

She turned to the giant book and shrunk it with magic and placed it in the pocket behind her head like everything else she carried with her.

Eggman himself was a little hurt that she said she didn't care about him. After all he was the one that found her! She _owed_ him for waking her up.

"But you are correct, Hope. I am handling the situation quite immaturely. I apologize for my outburst. I'm happy to work with irresponsible people and clean up the mess they made by paying for it with my life." She forced a very fake and cheesy smile.

Hope was speechless. The hedgehog was deeply insulted by her words. His actions were due to the manipulation by the doctor and not of his own true volition. His anger and hatred for humans was exploited for Eggman's gain; but understood that she didn't know the _context_.

"Fight me." Shadow turned away. "If you're so angry at what we've done then fight me and get your justice. Prove your strength to me, witch."

Sheptilah laughed. " _Fight_ you? I cannot fight my familiar; as detestable as they may be."

"Fight me," he repeated, "When you are fully recovered. I challenge you to a friendly sparring match. Work out your anger and aggression on me, if you hate me so much. I'll prove myself worthy."

"Wait a minute-" Cabbot raised his hands defensively. "I can't allow this."

"Sir; consider it a training exercise. If we are supposed to be together then we should know each other's limits, strengths and weaknesses." Shadow was persuasive when he wanted to prove his strength.

"This is a bad idea," Rouge shook her head. "You'll kill each other." She was already texting Sonic and his friends letting them know some nonsense was about to go down in case she needed backup.

"I suppose I can allow it if you both agree to the sparring match- but it is by _my_ rules." Cabbot felt like a pushover.

"Challenge accepted." Sheptilah nodded. "I will fight you, if that's what you wish. We do not have to wait for me to recover; we can fight right now."

"First- let us be unbonded, shall we?" Eggman clasped his hands together nervously, "Since Tilly and I share pain sometimes it would be unfair for _me_ to suffer."

"I'll fight you, too," Sheptilah pointed at Eggman, "If you don't shut your mouth." The witch snapped her fingers and appeared in her usual clothes with the sarong and leather top. She extended her nails into deadly claws with a glamour to appear menacing.

"You brought this on yourself, hedgehog." She grinned with a mouth full of razor-sharp shark teeth.

"Tch." Shadow scoffed, unimpressed with shallow magic. "Let's go, then. To the training arena."


	17. Red Sun Rising

The training arena was a massive room in the very bottom basement level of the fortress. It was illuminated by hot lights beaming down from the ceiling.

Eggman, Cabbot and Rouge were watching from the observation deck which was embedded directly into the wall behind thick glass. Hope refused to attend.

"These are the rules of engagement." Cabbot was speaking over the com to Sheptilah and Shadow, both of whom were in the pit already and waiting on the cue.

"You may not inflict grievous bodily harm upon each other, limit your use of Chaos Energy and magic and I will stop the fight whenever I feel it's gone too far. Do you agree?" Boris' voice sounded grandfatherly.

"When are they going to realize I don't understand them when their voices come from technology?" Tilly bobbed her hair and encased her calf in a purple crystalline substance to prevent her injuries from ripping open any further.

"He said we're not allowed to kill each other or overuse our powers." Shadow rolled his eyes. "Do you agree to that?"

"Yes."

"We agree." Shadow gave the thumbs-up.

"Here we go." Eggman was watching nervously.

"Is this being recorded?" Rouge was looking over the equipment in the observation deck.

"Yes, for liability purposes." Cabbot's forehead twinkled with a few beads of sweat.

"Oh, dear God." Eggman whined. "I'm going to die."

"You've been saying that all week and you haven't died yet," Rouge was texting someone on her phone.

"Statistically speaking one of these days I'll be right." Ivo couldn't help but insist on that.

Shadow and Sheptilah stared intently; each waiting for the other to make the first move. Crimson eyes met amethyst and she raised a brow.

"Come on, then! Or are you afraid?" She smirked.

He let out a quiet growl and teleported behind her and nudged her forward to test the waters. She took a clumsy step forward and steadied herself.

"Why is he hesitating?" The bat was responding to rapid texts blipping on her phone.

"There's no pride in destroying a handicapped target," Eggman peered closely at what was happening below, "But that's not why he's doing what he's doing."

Destroying. That was an inappropriate choice of words.

Shadow felt strange; he was so angry earlier but now he was somewhat numb to everything. The witch turned around to look at him and tilted her head. Something was wrong with her eyes although they looked the same.

"So then what is he doing?" Cabbot asked the doctor. "If you know so much."

"Getting a feel for how far she's willing to go at this moment." He pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Trying to get her angry."

"Your cheap glamours are shallow. I know this and you are wasting energy trying to be intimidating with them…" Shadow clenched his fists.

She brought a long nail up to the corner of her mouth tauntingly. "So you think the glamours are fake."

"Everything about you is fake."

She chuckled. "Cute. You're cute." She rotated her shoulders and cracked her neck. "Not as cute as Hebat but beggars can't be choosers, now can we? My glamours are solid. Temporary transmogrification."

He was hyper aware of her every movement. Was she trying to bring his guard down? He couldn't tell if she was intentionally making herself vulnerable or if he was second guessing this sparring match he initiated.

She started to hum. Quietly at first but then gaining in volume. She brought her palms together above her head and rotated her hips like a dancer.

She bent forward and then flung her head back, releasing the glamour keeping it bobbed and unleashed a wave of silver hair. Sheptilah then continued dancing in circles as the length of her hair continued to grow by dozens of yards.

The sound of a percussive rhythm filled Shadow's head and then he understood what she was doing: the witch fights with her hair like a performer to the literal beat of her own drum.

The hedgehog curled into a spiked ball and spin-dashed around her at lightning quick speeds, slicing the hair apart as if it was wet paper.

Her hair was prehensile when she wanted it to be. She lifted her hair from all directions and tried to catch Shadow but he was just too fast. She remained in place and shot her hair out in all directions.

He teleported above her and found himself tangled in her tresses like a tasty insect in a spider's web.

"Chaos spear!" He summoned a crackling beam of energy and cut himself free.

He thought the tendrils were not an issue once they were cut but he didn't feel that it was sticking to his spines like marshmallow fluff.

She turned and extended her nails like claws and slashed at him. Shadow skillfully dodged back and forth with minimal effort.

Because her magic was invisible it was impossible to dodge it. You only knew it was there after it hit you or if it was moving another object.

While he was distracted with dodging from the front she used magic to grab him by his spines. She threw her arm back in a ripping motion and several of his spikes came out with it.

He howled with pain that shot all the way down to his knees. Ripping out a hedgehog's spines was the most cruel thing you can do to them. Sheptilah in turn felt sympathetic pain at the back of her neck like someone stabbed a hot knife between her vertebrae. Small prickles of blood formed on invisible wounds, dripping down her back.

Shadow teleported again and grabbed Sheptilah by the wrist and with all his might he flung her down, breaking it.

All at once his limb shrieked in sympathy as if something was stomping on his arm. His own hand felt like it was being sawed off with a rusty butter knife.

Eggman only felt a twinge.

"Do you see?" Sheptilah rolled over to look at him. "Do you see why I did not want to fight?"

"We share pain." He lightly panted from exertion.

"Yes, we share the pain we inflict on each other." With her unbroken hand she snapped the tiny bones in her wrist back into place and lifted her hair to show him the injuries she caused him reflected on her own body. The searing pain in his own hand ceased instantly.

"Now, do you still wish to fight? If it is what you want I will comply." She looked at him with determination in her eyes.

"I won't lose to you." He spat and charged forward.

"The goal isn't to win; the goal is to see how far we can go before Cabbot panics." She rolled out of the way and grabbed him in mid-air with visible magic taking the form of a large, gloved hand.

 **[WhiteEcho]** Shadow drew first blood

 **[BlueBlrr91]** how much blood?

 **[WhiteEcho]** it's not literal

 **[WhiteEcho]** he just broke her wrist

 **[WhiteEcho]** it's flopping around

 **[BlueBlrr91]** don't tell me these gross details!

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I'm eating!

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** Ew

 **[WhiteEcho]** she just healed it she's fine

Shadow teleported out of harm's way and curled into a ball. He bounced off of the floor and walls just barely missing her. Some of his razor-sharp spikes grazed her skin.

She struggled to keep up with his incredible speed but saw a pattern in how he was bouncing around. The figure of the glove disappeared and the witch's leg was in searing pain. It was difficult for her to concentrate.

 **[WhiteEcho]** Eggman is freaking out it's hilarious

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I wish I was there to see it

 **[BlueBlrr91]** his panic I mean

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I do not want to see broken arms

 **[WhiteEcho]** I understood ;)

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** Sticks doesn't know who she wants to see win

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** Knuckles says 'I hope I win'

 **[BlueBlrr91]** gotta love knucks

"I'm not feeling any of the pain but the back of my neck itches," Eggman scratched it, "I suppose I worried over nothing."

"It's the iron box you're standing in," Cabbot was watching carefully, "It's probably hindering the bond, yes?"

"Could be…" Eggman instinctively reached to make a note in his gauntlet but frowned when he remembered it was still impounded somewhere.

"Stop holding back," Shadow growled, "Show me what you're made of, witch."

"And I'm worried again." The doctor sighed.

Sheptilah complied. "I'm made of equal parts human and magic." All of the cut hair pooled into a silvery liquid. What was stuck to Shadow's body seeped into his spines and fur, significantly weighing him down.

He struggled against the liquid hair.

"How many people have you killed, Shadow?"

"Not as many as you seem to think and certainly no innocents. They were trying to kill _me_ first." He tried to bite his way free from the goo that pulled his fur.

The material almost looked like the witch-eaters did. She danced again and she beckoned the liquid to coat all of the surfaces of the room, excluding the glass window in the observation deck.

"It was self defense?"

"Yes, of course!"

Shadow instinctively tried to jump out of the way but was immediately engulfed in a bubble of the weird goo as it flew at him from the walls on all sides. The hedgehog didn't miss a beat and teleported behind the witch, sweeping her legs and knocked her down with a hard thud.

The drums were silenced.

All at once the magic disappeared. Her hair was back to its typical but absurd length and the crystal protecting her leg dissolved. The pain of having been kicked, even lightly, on her severely injured leg was too great and it broke her concentration on controlling her powers.

"I expected _more_ ," Shadow stood over her with a frown on his face, "And yet I foresaw this would be the result."

"It's my leg," Sheptilah sat up and looked over the blood-soaked bandages, "Pain is distracting."

"I told you I would wait until you were healed."

"I am not one to accept pity," she huffed, "Besides, you can heal me."

"So how do I do this?" He did feel slightly guilty for kicking her over.

"Imagine my leg but healed; and then touch it. You won't hurt me."

"I remember Rouge telling me how it hurt you when you held the Chaos Emerald. My powers are all Chaos Energy manipulation. I do not like the possibility of -"

"What's happening?" Cabbot spoke to them over the PA system.

Sheptilah waved to the window, beckoning them to come down. Boris shook his head and motioned for them to come up.

"We'll continue this later." Shadow grabbed her wrist, the same one he broke earlier, and teleported up to the observation deck.

"I am not going to lie; I am a little disappointed that was all it was." Eggman's mustache drooped.

"If it makes you feel better I made Sonic freak out over nothing." Rouge looked at the text messages from the frantic blue hedgehog who was certain Shadow would accidentally kill the witch and bring a slow but assured end to all life on Mobius as a result.

"That does make me feel better!" The doctor perked up. "Tell me, did he cry? Panic? Wheeze? Ooh, _tell me_ , Rouge! I'm all tingly with excitement."

"I ruined his lunch." The bat shrugged.

"I'll take it!" Eggman wiggled with joy.

"Why were you texting Sonic?" Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"I was also texting Amy." Rouge turned away and smirked. "They wanted to know who would win."

Sheptilah was dizzy from the teleportation, "Shadow definitely won this one," she rubbed her eyes with her fist. She was swaying on her feet. They could see chunks of her hair was missing from the fight and from her time in the ziggurat using the tresses like breadcrumbs.

"So that _is_ your natural hair length," Rouge chuckled, "Or was."

"It will grow back. Hair always grows back," Sheptilah looked at Eggman's bald head, "For most of us."

She reached down to Shadow and gently stroked his spines, healing the ones she pulled out with an icy rush.

"Don't do that again." He scolded her. She wasn't sure if he meant pulling out the spines or touching him. It was likely both.

Sheptilah's wounds were redressed and she was given another GUN tracksuit to wear around. Eggman was given back his old clothes and gauntlet which Sheptilah had absorbed the blood off of so they were clean.

She relaxed in one of the common rooms draped across a sofa and eating fries while Eggman was talking to his robots.

He sat near her but not within arm's reach.

Shadow himself was sitting on the floor with a hot dog in one hand and a pen in the other. He was going through the massive grimoire and writing down what he felt were important notes.

"Wait- where's Cubot?" Eggman was talking into his gauntlet. "Is that Dave?!" He peered into the screen.

"David popped in to bring you a Hanukkah gift." Orbot held up a small blue box. "First of eight, he threatens."

"Is that Eggman? Doctor Eggman!" Dave the intern waved to the camera. As a light blue river rat Mobian with buck teeth and braces he didn't appear very intimidating.

"What? That started today?" Being busy not dying all week was throwing off his internal clock.

"Actually my calendar says it starts tomorrow but I have to work a double shift so I thought I'd drop in and see how you were doing… and if you still needed an intern." Dave was sucking up because he didn't want to be forced to work holidays.

Sheptilah sat up and scooched over to Eggman and looked at the screen. "Who is the pretty blue kid and why is he in your house?"

"That is David… somebody who used to work for me and he was just leaving, right?" Eggman finished that sentence with a sing-song voice.

"Who is this?" The Mobian leaned a little too hard on Orbot and nearly caused the robot to fall over. Orbot pushed him away with prejudice.

"She's nobody- thank you for the gift but please leave my lair at once. I will be returning to it soon."

He closed his gauntlet and sighed. "Why do I even have high tech security if a teenage rat could just walk in?"

"Hanukkah, huh?" Sheptilah paused while her stone translated. "Oh, you're Hebrew! Oh, that's still a thing! Nice. You guys were kind of new back in my day."

"We _endured_ ," he was only ethnically related to it, not religiously, "It's not the _only_ culture that's been around as long, either."

"It's nice to know that there are some things have not changed all that much; but I really love these," she held up a fry, "What are these again?"

"French fries," Eggman gestured by making a chopping motion, "Potato that's cut up and fried."

"So have you thought about what you want? Don't go crazy. I'm not a Djinn so I can say no to you." She poked him in the arm with a fry.

"What? Oh, for waking you up?"

"Well yes but also for holding my leg together, remember?" She stuck her injured leg out for emphasis. "What do you want?"

"World domination!"

"No."

"It was worth a try." What _did_ he want?

"Maybe it'll be easier if I just suggest things and you pick from that. Um, gold?"

"I'm already filthy rich; I have enough gold."

"A wife?"

"Are _you_ offering?" He paused. "Wait, wouldn't that make me a king?"

"A king of nothing, really. Oh; and a haunted house. No, I'm not offering myself!" She stuck out her tongue playfully. "I could summon a succubus, I don't need you." She joked.

"What's… what's a succubus?" Shadow turned his head back to look at Tilly.

She stared at the hedgehog for a moment before her face turned bright red. She couldn't gauge how old Shadow was because Mobians didn't age the same way humans did.

"Never mind." She finally said.

"Whatever," Shadow turned back to his work. A lot of the pages were diary entries from past royalty and a lot of them gushed about their familiars and had their hand prints in the margins.

"I wonder why you can't touch the Chaos Emeralds." He was looking for entries about them but none seemed to exist.

Sheptilah laid back down with her head by Eggman's thigh and flexed her foot on the uninjured leg. "Beats me. What are you looking for?"

"Information about the Emeralds and what familiars do." Shadow's ears flicked.

"We should start working on the weapon after you heal my leg." She looked up at Eggman and could almost see under his glasses. He looked down at her and she swore his sclerae were black. She quickly looked away with a mix of embarrassment and horror.

"Wait," he saw something and flipped back to it. "Aliens… alien parasites…" He paused. "You're not a human at all."

"Eh? I most certainly am."

"This entry states that your people are descended from aliens." The hedgehog tapped the page with his finger.

"No, that's not what it means. You're looking at it literally." Sheptilah sat up and wove images out of smoke. Tall beings with severely elongated arms and gray bodies stood among primitive humans.

"Only about two thousand years before I was born did they come. They were the last two of their kind." The figures had no discernible faces and instead communicated with smoke imagery in the same way Sheptilah was doing.

"They were unable to reproduce on their own - and even if they could they would be severely inbred. They were the last two of their species and they told us they came from beyond the stars we couldn't even see from Mobius. Our moon was like theirs- granting them the ability to recharge their power from the diluted sunlight.

"We didn't know the witch-eaters were parasites and they infected the aliens like a disease. They wanted to live out the rest of their lifespan peacefully but instead brought the deadly creatures with them unknowingly and unleashed it on our planet."

The alien figures were hunched over and their bodies heaved as if they were coughing.

"We cared for them and taught them sign language and they taught us about their magic. In return for our love and kindness they bestowed upon the original two witches Oracle Stones when they died. One was a human man, the other a Mobian man. All of my people were descended from the two. Every child born to a Nannae witch is granted a stone of their own, regardless of the sex of the parent. At least one of them has to be Nannaeic.

"There were twelve houses because each of the men had six children. We named our zodiac after them. Each season has three houses divided among the days:

Spring has Aries, Taurus and Gemini. Summer has Cancer, Leo and Virgo. Autumn has Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius. Finally, winter has Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces."

"So the zodiac hasn't really changed in all that time?" Eggman wondered just how old the concept was. "My birthday is June twenty-third, so I am a Cancer." He mimicked a crab clinching its pincers with his hands.

"Huh. Lots of things seem to endure, then." She smiled, "I am Sheptilah of the house of Aquarius. My patron symbol is an armadillo holding water."

Shadow smirked. "I am on the cusp of Cancer but I fall under Gemini. My records stated I was 'born' June nineteenth."

"I can do a proper star sign reading on you two later because it's a lot more complicated than just the days you were born. Gemini had a human patron holding twins, but they were not identical twins. Cancer is a desert jackal Mobian with crab claws; I think that Mobian was a hybrid. Anyway - that's what it is. I am not an alien; just part alien."

"So your gift is also your burden," Shadow nodded, "And now it's my burden, too."

"Yes, but it's a wonderful burden. We were like gods among men. We could live for hundreds of years if we wanted to. We dedicated our lives and powers to making things better for all life. We were worshiped and revered! Now I'm all that's left and my own home tried to kill me." Sheptilah frowned and the magical vapor disappeared.

"I'm starting to understand why I'm your familiar. I am also part alien." Shadow's ears swiveled back slightly, "But I will discuss that later."

"But-"

"It's a _long_ story, Sheptilah." Eggman patted her shoulder. "Don't bother him about it."

"I'm sorry for calling you a demon earlier, Shadow. Things have been messy with me lately, haven't they?" She felt his own emotional turmoil. It was as if someone was twisting a knife in her heart.

"You aren't the first and likely won't be the last to do so." He carefully turned a page and then realized he left his book back in the hospital room. It was probably lost forever. _Well,_ he thought, _this one is just as mangled on the inside as House Of Leaves. Not much difference._

Sheptilah turned back to Eggman and tilted her head.

"What?" He leaned away from her.

"I think I know what I can do for you."

"Oh, God."

"Any living creature can learn and perform magic. I will teach you something small. Perhaps magical chemistry?"

"I have no use for magic," he straightened up, "I have science and real chemistry!"

Sheptilah pouted, "I think you'd really like learning it, though. You could do wonderful things with science and magic."

"Like what?" Eggman furrowed his eyebrows.

" _Alchemy_." Shadow turned his head to them. "She's proposing to teach you alchemy. Aren't you?"

"And that's why he's my familiar!" She smiled with pride.

"This isn't going to end well for anyone." Eggman's mustache drooped. "Last time I used magic things ended poorly." He was thinking about the Chronophage and the Naugus twins.

 _You shouldn't be teaching this terrorist anything_ , Shadow thought to himself.

"Alchemy is as much mathematics and logic as it is magic. Once you learn how to wrap your brain around it you will be able to do wonderful things- like give your robots life." She sat up and cutely brushed her hair behind her ear so as to appear innocent.

Life? In his robots? The whole point of them being robots is their artificiality. However... if Metal Sonic was alive… that would change things _drastically._ A devious grin spread across the doctor's face.

"In that case I would love to be your student," he offered his hand to be shaken in agreement.

Sheptilah's eyes glinted mischievously and and shook Eggman's massive hand with both of hers.

Eggman suddenly felt like he made a deal with the devil and was already regretting it.


	18. Invisible Touch

Shadow's handwriting had a blocky look to it. It is an angular, sharp way of writing: although the penmanship was extremely well-practiced it was obvious he never curved the pen much. His notes filled up every square inch of the the notebook pages in tiny print.

He learned to write this way when sneaking notes to Maria and Gerald on the ARK on tiny gum wrappers.

NOTES:

Baneful herb = ? poisonous - fairies are not to be trusted, often steal children - get a grimoire - moon phases are important / red moon = blood moon? Ask about red energy - Oracle Stones are alive? - witch-eaters are known as 'LIBBU MARUS' - succubus = female? sex demon / incubi = male? sex demon / aka SPIRIT WIFE/HUSBAND/SPOUSE / Hahanu = sex demon of indeterminate? gender - Sheptilah means 'banana' - they do not celebrate birthdays but have one big party at the end of the year - iron is deadly - silver is a preferred metal for all purposes but athames- SCRYING: divination through a reflective surface - JOKE that is older than time apparently: what hangs by a man's thigh and pokes many dark holes? A key - energy comes from diluted sunlight from the moon's reflection / harvest moons have 'adverse' effect on witches? ^ Red moon ? / performing their magic without an OS is difficult - it is possible to borrow energy from a witch - witches can use power rings - familiars have arguably more power than the witches that serve them - they learned all kinds of magic from travelers and invited them to write it in the royal grimoire- witches get drunk on poisonous liquids in moderate doses - WITCH HUMANS CAN HAVE CHILDREN WITH MOBIANS?

"This cannot be right," Shadow was very confused. Maybe he was reading the diary entry wrong?

 **[Midwife notes: If both are from a race that gives birth to live offspring then it is possible for them to have children together as facilitated by the Oracle Stones.**

 **A male human and a female clever folk will always produce a clever folk child but a female human and a male clever folk has a one out of two chance of giving birth to a human or a clever folk. Size difference permitting. This act is taboo and while not forbidden it is frowned upon. It is much more acceptable to adopt a child. The offspring often have mixed magic and are considered 'changelings'. This magic is unstable at best.]**

No. It was _very_ clear.

"Creepy..." He muttered to himself. The very concept of giving birth to something that wasn't even your species twisted his stomach. Maybe it was because he himself was a hybrid; however his birth was from a tube.

"What needs clarification?" Sheptilah peered over Shadow's shoulder.

He closed the grimoire and his notes abruptly. "Never mind; I misread something."

Boris walked into the room and beckoned for Sheptilah to follow him. The witch turned to Eggman and put him to sleep in the same way she did back at the lair by pressing her thumb to his forehead.

"I can't trust him to behave without us here." She smiled innocently. Sheptilah stowed the royal grimoire away and turned to Shadow who kept a tight grip on his notes. The witch's leg had already almost completely healed itself so she walked with only a slight limp.

"You should come with me," she then turned to Cabbot, "Is that alright?"

He paused for a moment and then nodded.

"I must ask you for complete silence on the matter." He spoke to both of them.

"Of course." Shadow nodded curtly.

Boris led them quite a distance to the dorm in which he lived. It was like a luxury apartment compared to the simple rooms many of the other soldiers had and the path to get there seemed intentionally confusing.

"Why would you want to teach Doctor Eggman anything?" Shadow finally asked.

"Sonic the hedgehog asked a favor of me, though it was in jest. He requested I fix the doctor." Sheptilah smirked.

"So how does teaching him alchemy change anything about him?" Cabbot furrowed his eyebrows. He would have to tell her that she wouldn't be able to do much with Eggman once they were unbonded because he would be immediately arrested by GUN forces and executed.

"As above, so below." The witch flexed her fingers at her side like she was playing an invisible piano until the joints cracked. "Alchemy is about change. Changing your way of thinking, changing how you understand the world around you and changing one thing into another."

"Well, yes, we as modern scientists understand that alchemy is mostly nonsense. There is no such thing as turning lead into gold and creating a universal solvent and-"

"You break my heart, Boris!" Sheptilah frowned dramatically. "It's what my people did before we got our Oracle Stones. Maybe your modern idea of alchemy is warped. Magic comes from somewhere and goes elsewhere ; alchemy is the study of what that means. Sure, we had lofty ideas when it was a new concept but it set the foundation for everything else."

"And you think this is going to inspire him to be a better person? That's foolish." Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"Well, if that fails I can always behead him." She shrugged.

"An even six." Shadow smirked playfully. "I'm starting to like you."

Cabbot's wife, Andrea, sat on a black leather sofa with a newspaper and pen in hand. Her skin had a yellowish pallor to it. Her hair was white and cut short and her body was thin and frail as if her skin was draped over her bones. She was wearing three pairs of fuzzy socks and a thick housecoat to keep warm.

"What is a five letter word for a magical woman?" She was working on a crossword puzzle. "'Mage' only has four letters…"

"'Witch'," Shadow answered, "Hello, Mrs. Cabbot."

"Oh, Shadow! What brings you here?" She turned to him and smiled warmly and then to the tall woman beside him, "Oh, this must be...Sheptilah?"

"Yes." The witch bowed slightly.

"I'm told you're a panacea," Andrea folded the paper and stuffed it between the seat cushions, "And that you can heal anything."

"A panacea?" Sheptilah blushed and stuttered. "I'm no such miracle; I can only heal physical injuries and illnesses. What has Mr. Cabbot told you?"

"Oh, he mentioned you had way too much hair for any adult woman and you healed people instantly."

Sheptilah could see the woman's teeth were stained gray with age.

"I really do have too much hair," the witch ran her fingers through it, "But it's how I heal. I am absorbing your illness or pain into it because hair has no feeling. All the pain and injury must go somewhere so it goes into me while you are healed." This was only true for cuts and bruises. She was lying so they wouldn't panic with what was about to happen as it is incredibly painful for the witch.

"Why are you wasting your energy on an old woman like me?" Andrea adjusted her housecoat, "Aren't there younger people who need your help more?"

"Well, I am in the room with _you_ " Tilly straightened up her posture. "I'm going to help you if you will let me."

"What do I have to do?" The old woman eyed the witch curiously.

"Just sit there." Tilly sat next to her and wrapped her hair around the woman's frighteningly small torso.

"It will feel cold." Sheptilah steadied herself and took a deep breath. Healing internal illnesses took a lot more finesse than simply patching together a wound. First, she had to think about the sick organs and where they were located in the body. Then she had to replace theirs with _hers_ , heal the sick organ from within her own body and then return it to its proper host.

The whole process takes about a minute but is extraordinarily difficult.

Boris went over to his wife and sat next to her, holding her hands tightly. His heart beat so hard the pulse was visible in his throat from across the room.

Andrea felt ice form in every vein in her body. It was like she fell through snow into freezing water. Sheptilah's face was pinched with pain and exertion while the exchange occurred between their bodies. It was over so quickly that Sheptilah didn't realize she was sweating profusely. Her hair was damp and stuck to her face.

"Wait…" Andrea felt her torso. "Is...is that it?"

"Yes." Tilly wiped her brow with the back of her shaky hand.

"What do we do now?" Boris stood and got Sheptilah a hand towel.

"Go see your doctor," she dabbed her face dry, "Make sure everything is where it belongs."

"Are you okay?" Shadow eyed the witch. "You look unwell."

"I'll be fine…" She was a bit nauseous but was otherwise alright. "I want to get back to the island now." She stood up and took a deep, calming breath.

Boris immediately showered his wife in kisses and hugged her gently.

"Thank you, Sheptilah." Andrea managed to speak after pulling her face away from Boris'.

The witch nodded politely. "If anyone asks I healed you of my own volition; because I did."

Shadow tapped the witch on her elbow. "I'll take you to the mess hall. You must be hungry."

He led her to the hallway so Boris and Andrea could have time to themselves. The clicking of Shadow's metal skates and the quiet whirring of machinery within the thick walls was the only sound as the hall was deserted.

"Shadow," the witch pursed her lips, "Why would the Chaos Emerald hurt me? Does it not like me?"

"The gems aren't _sentient_ if that's what you're asking," he brushed his spines with his fingers, "However the witch-eaters are extremely vulnerable to Chaos energy. Maybe you are, too."

"And you use Chaos energy."

"Yes."

"And you are my familiar."

"Yes, Sheptilah."

"So you could kill me simply by touching me if you wished."

"I could do that regardless."

"Don't challenge me to any more fights." She chuckled nervously.

* * *

The mess hall was a large open area with vending machines, soda fountains and boxes of ready to eat rations lying about large tables with benches. Some agents milled about talking quietly amongst themselves and Shadow pointed to a familiar white and pink figure standing across the room and tapping her foot in thought. Rouge was at one of the refrigerated machines picking out a salad. She couldn't decide between the chicken or garden varieties.

"Rouge!" Sheptilah walked up to her. "Are you feeling okay?"

The bat turned around and smiled, "Oh yes," she decided on the chicken salad since the garden salad had apple slices in it. She opened the door and selected her meal which came prepackaged with a plastic fork. Rouge then picked out a small carton of orange juice and invited them to sit with her after they picked out their food.

Shadow wasn't hungry so he simply watched Sheptilah grab a garden salad, bottled water and followed Rouge to a table.

The witch sat down next to Shadow and poked at the plastic wrapper on her food. "What is this weird material? It's clear like glass but it's springy like some kind of _film._ "

"Plastic." Rouge opened it for her. "Cool, isn't it?"

Small talk. A lot of small talk between the three of them and all of them avoided discussing the ziggurat. Rouge was anxious to find out how Mrs. Cabbot was doing but was more than smart enough to know not to ask in public.

Sheptilah didn't realize how hungry she was until she took her first crunchy bite of apple.

The bat concentrated on scrolling through her phone to distract herself from remembering how it felt to vomit up all those maggots.

"We will have to get you one of these so we can remain in contact." Rouge had at least sixty emails from spam bots.

"But I can't understand your talking over technology. Wouldn't it be pointless?"

"Shadow and I can teach you sign language until you learn our spoken one." She held up the back of her hand to her face, curved her finger like a hook and 'dragged' it downward. "American sign language for 'witch'."

"Oh, video chatting," Shadow narrowed his eyes, "Another way to try and trick me into getting a phone."

Sheptilah smiled. "Wait, show me the sign for 'bat'."

Rouge crossed her hands at the wrists over her chest and with her index fingers pointing toward her shoulders and flapped once. "Bat."

Shadow held up a fist with one hand and brought up his other hand behind it with his thumb tucked in and fingers sticking up in a single wave motion. "Hedgehog."

"We had something similar but it was definitely not the same signs," she took a sip of water, "Why do you know any at all?"

"Well, we have deaf and hard-of-hearing colleagues but it's also important to be able to communicate silently on more covert missions." Shadow was lying a little; Maria had taught him in case her hearing failed her before she died.

"We also need to get you some legal papers. Stuff like a photo ID and birth certificate." Rouge tapped her phone on her chin. "That's a lot to do."

"Do whatever it is you need to do." Sheptilah suddenly stiffened up.

"What?" Rouge peered at her.

That was when Abraham Tower approached the trio.

* * *

"Doctor Eggman?" The red fox walked into the room to find the Overlander passed out on the sofa. "Hello?" The fox paused for a moment thinking Eggman had died but was oddly relieved when he saw that his mustache twitched.

His gauntlet was blinking. He had urgent messages from the Egg Army and the bots back at his lair.

"Doctor Eggman-" The fox nudged him.

"Go away, Clove," Eggman rolled over, "I'm napping…"

"Clove? My name is Apollo." The fox's ears twitched when he heard the door slide open.

Eggman's gauntlet shocked him awake. That meant it was a very serious message.

"I'm up, I'm up!" He jumped and looked at his arm, "Where's the fire?"

An image came on screen showing Thunderbolt with some exhausted robots around her. "This base is unsalvageable. I request a transfer." She was alone with only robots helping her as the other Soumercian Egg army soldiers were still at GUN under lock down.

" _What?_ "

"We cannot salvage it."

"Why not!?"

Apollo instinctively reached for his gun when Eggman raised his voice.

"We think more of those witch-eaters came back after we left. We should quarantine what's left with a shield and start over somewhere else."

The door slid open and Sheptilah was with the two Mobians beside her and president Tower behind them. The witch appeared to be very upset and angry.

"Fine," he lowered his voice, "Meet me back at the lair." He hung up before Thunderbolt could deafen them with her squeal of delight.

"Doctor Eggman," Abraham peered at him unflinchingly, "We cannot allow you to be separated."

"Come again?" He narrowed his eyes and stood.

"I cannot allow you to become separated from the witch." He repeated coolly. "We are also holding your Egg army militia as collateral. We want to ensure that we have your full cooperation in defeating these witch-eaters and will not undermine us at every turn."

"We have to stay joined," the witch emphasized, "It was that or they arrest you indefinitely and we lose unfettered access to your resources."

"Unacceptable!" Eggman stomped his foot, " _You_ don't want this, either." He pointed at the woman.

"I had to convince GUN not to just 'acquire' all of your property and arrest all of your people right this second." Sheptilah crossed her arms, "We cannot trust you or your militia to not back-stab us so I have to stay joined to you to make sure you behave."

"Team Dark will check in on you periodically; but for now you are instructed to stay on Seaside Island. Rouge will escort you both home." Tower let a small smirk creep up the corner of his mouth.

"So does this mean you've joined GUN, Sheptilah?"

"No. Absolutely not. It means you are my puppet and you will do as I ask until the alien threat is neutralized. After that I will see to it that GUN shows mercy on you for your crimes against the planet and its people." Sheptilah lowered her gaze to the floor, "we must return to the island now."

"Bow to the new ruler of the Eggman Empire," Rouge smiled devilishly.

Eggman was silent. Terrifyingly silent. The devious little cogs and wheels were already turning in his mind.


	19. Dark Horse

Sheptilah waited until after Tower and Apollo left the room to relax her face. She immediately broke out into laughter once the door slid shut.

"The new queen of the Eggman Empire?" She was hunched over and holding her stomach from laughing so hard, "Rouge, please!"

"What?" Ivo was very confused.

"I could barely keep a straight face when you said that," Sheptilah wheezed, "Why are you so dramatic? I had to keep a scowl as tight as I could or I was going to crack up and undermine everything president Tower was saying."

"I wanted to see what color Eggman's face would turn." Rouge stifled her giggles behind a gloved hand.

Shadow could only shake his head with disbelief.

Rouge saw to it that Eggman and Sheptilah got back to the island lair in one piece. The sky was stained a royal purple as the sun began to creep up on the twinkling horizon.

"I'll have legal papers and other things for you later today, Tilly. In the meantime stay put; a lot is happening at once." Rouge smiled and turned to go back into the portal before being stopped by the witch.

"Wait," Sheptilah reached into the back of her head and fished out a small large uncut ruby and one of Hebat's scales.

"This is for Shadow to hold onto." She placed the delicate heart-shaped scale in Rouge's palm. "And this is for you, Rouge." The ruby was about the size of a small paperweight and looked like a chunk of frozen meat.

"What's this?" The bat held the pink translucent scale up to look at it.

"Shadow will know. This ruby is for you; It's uncut, so you can get it done however you like. I did promise you something from the coffers. This is all I have on me and I can get you more later. It was a gift from the emperor of Chun-Nan."

Rouge gasped softly. Although the gem itself was ugly uncut she could still see the potential beauty. She could put it on a platinum chain and wear it with a lovely cocktail dress as a statement necklace or split it into a pair of earrings. She could potentially wear it as a very heavy ring, too. But did she have the wrist strength for that?

"That ruby has to be worth…" Eggman flicked his fingers to count. "One-hundred million Mobians." Jeez!

"That's about a good estimate," Rouge somehow stowed the gem in her cleavage, "I'll keep it forever. Thank you, Tilly." She squealed with delight. It was all worth it to suffer in that ziggurat just for that one ruby; and the witch promised more!

"I'm very pleased you're happy but It's just a rock."

"It's more than that!" Rouge's wings twitched. "It's a gift from a friend. That means it's special." She went through the portal and waved goodbye to Sheptilah as the witch closed it behind her.

"I wish she was my familiar," the woman spoke to herself, "She's so enthusiastic."

Eggman silently walked up behind Sheptilah and placed his massive hand around the back of her neck but did not squeeze. If he wanted to he could unscrew her head like a bottle cap and not break a sweat.

"Is it true?" He spoke quietly.

"Is what true?" Tilly didn't move. She knew that he wouldn't dare hurt her and opted for perfect stillness to appear vulnerable.

"That you convinced GUN not to arrest me. What is your endgame?" He applied a little pressure to her neck; not enough to hurt her but enough as a warning. Nobody was going to take his life's work from him. Especially not some witch.

"You could go a little harder," she flexed her fingers until the joints cracked and then lightly gripped his wrist, "I can still breathe."

"I forgot you're suicidal."

"Evidently you are as well," she craned her neck to look back at him, "You're going to summon my familiar if you aren't careful. If you want to die so badly maybe you should just touch my Oracle Stone." She hooked a finger into the collar of her shirt and exposed the top half of the gem.

"This is a warning, Sheptilah," Eggman lifted her a centimeter off the ground by her neck, "I am not an ordinary human. I am an Overlander. I will do what I need to do to protect my assets."

Now she was nervous but she had to remain calm or Shadow would be summoned and ruin her plans.

"First rule of alchemy-" she wrapped her legs around his torso and extended her nails into deadly claws, "You get what you give!" She inhaled deeply to brace herself and stabbed her own stomach and twisted her hand around.

Fire erupted in Eggman's belly. It was the most excruciating pain he ever felt. He shrieked with agony and threw the witch hard to the ground with a wet crunch. He fell to his knees and held his stomach thinking his guts would spill out.

The witch rolled over and gasped for air. The world was blurry and incomprehensible for a moment while her skull healed itself. Doctor Eggman had thrown her so hard he cracked her head open. Had it been anyone else they would be dead.

She sat up and saw the man was hunched over, eyes wide and stomach heaving.

"Second rule," she pulled her hand out of her torso and healed the wound, "As above, so below," she stabbed herself again.

Eggman coughed up blood that wasn't his own for the second time that week. She inhaled a deep, shaky breath and stood up.

"Third rule!" Her eyes wild and glowing pierced through to his soul. "Do not turn away from the moon for you can only see her face and not what she hides behind her back."

He spat out the foreign liquid that pooled in his mouth and stood.

"The dark side of the moon is _my base_ ," Eggman growled, "I will _always_ have the upper hand."

He lunged at her with speed that belied his great mass and punched her clear across the outcrop into the water with a splash.

Thunderbolt had seen Eggman punch the woman as she was about to land outside his gate on her tiny ship.

* * *

"Something's wrong," Shadow was pacing in his dorm unable to sit still, "I don't know why I'm jittery."

"I think it has to do with your witch being so far away again," Rouge was running her fingers over the uncut ruby. She was growing obsessed with the gem.

"No, I don't think that's it." He handed Rouge his notebook and allowed her to read it.

"Hmm…" Rouge hummed and then came to that part, "No way."

"Creepy, isn't it?"

"No kidding." She gave the notebook back. "Did you look up changelings further?"

"Yes. Some say they're the children of fairies and they're often ugly which is why they swap them out like that. These are from all different cultures, though. It could be a mistranslation." Shadow tapped his foot impatiently, "But it was mostly ignorant explanations for congenital birth defects and disabilities. Great cruelties were inflicted upon innocent children because of a fear of fairies."

"So these are shape-shifters with unstable magic?" Rouge tossed the gem between her hands, "Like the witch-eaters?"

Shadow's eyes grew wide with realization.

* * *

Sheptilah flung Eggman with magic toward the island and he landed face-first into the shore so he could not have the advantage of summoning his iron minions. She flew across the water on a puff of air and waited for him to stand.

"You're quite fast for a man your size," she kicked sand in his face, "I like learning new things about you every day."

"How dare you attack Lord Eggman!" Thunderbolt landed her ship and lunged for Sheptilah but missed.

"Augh!" Eggman growled and attempted to punch the witch but she dodged those attacks, too.

"Hold still!" Thunderbolt charged up to attack the witch with electricity.

Villagers heard the commotion and came running only to quickly back away when the fight got too close.

"What's going on?" Sonic sped by. "Woah!"

Thunderbolt got in one good shock before Sheptilah trapped the chinchilla in a large glass ball she formed out of sand and flung her out to sea. Thunderbolt couldn't break out or move and the glass insulated itself against her cybernetics. She tried to roll forward but it was of no use. All she could do was watch helplessly from the water.

"Stop!" Sonic got between Sheptilah and Eggman only to be thrown out of the way by the witch's magic into the water. She tackled Eggman and stabbed him in the gut with her claws.

"Don't ever lay a hand on me again, do you understand!?" Her pent-up fury unleashed all at once.

"The final rule of alchemy," Sheptilah panted, "Is you are the Philosopher's Stone. You are rough and uncut and need polishing, but you are the _stone; and I will_ break _you."_

Eggman choked and lifted his hand in submission. Sheptilah suddenly snapped out of it. She looked at her bloody hands with horror and regret. She had lost control.

Sonic panicked. He couldn't swim and he flailed around helplessly until he saw Thunderbolt floating in her ball and grabbed onto it for dear life.

"Get off my bubble!" Thunderbolt stomped her foot. "Or get me to the shore so I can kill that witch!"

The poor blue hedgehog had a death grip on the slippery glass and clung to it with his arms and legs, "A little help, guys!" He shouted into his wrist communicator.

"Eggman!" Thunderbolt cried. "Eggman!" She saw the witch stab him again and again with her claws. The chinchilla began to hyperventilate and realized she was running out of air.

She healed her injuries as well as Eggman's and got off of him. She then turned to the water and beckoned for the ball to come to her and Sonic came along with it.

She broke the glass so Thunderbolt was free and gently set Sonic down on the sand.

"What'd we miss?!" Tails flew over to Sonic and checked him over.

Sheptilah smiled. "I'm teaching Eggman alchemy. Sorry you got caught up in it."

Eggman groaned. Thunderbolt ran over to him and held his face in her tiny hands and showered him with kisses.

"T.B.-" Eggman held her at arm's length from his face but she continued to kiss the air, "T.B. come up for air."

"Are you okay?" The chinchilla was all flushed. "I thought you were dead!"

"I'm fine; we just had a _disagreement_." Eggman sat up as if nothing happened. He had a new perspective on the witch and he wasn't sure if he liked it.

"A disagreement?" Sonic shook the saltwater out of his spines. "You tried to kill each other!"

"Not seriously," Tilly shrugged, "We're still bonded." She tore open a portal to the lair and stepped through it, closing it behind her.


	20. On A Good Day

Sonic nervously looked over the doctor. Eggman wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stood up. He tucked Thunderbolt under his arm as if she was a purse and turned to leave.

"Wait-" Sonic stopped him. "Are you okay? Like, seriously? Are you _okay?_ "

"It's not _my_ blood," he brushed the sand out of his mustache, "It's the witch's."

"That's not really a comfort." Tails was standing next to Sonic, twisting his tails nervously.

"It's seven in the morning and you woke everyone up by fighting another Overlander and all you can say is it's not your blood?" The hedgehog was exasperated. He wasn't sleeping when the villagers called for him but he was still upset to have been disturbed so early in the day.

"Well, it isn't." His head was still hurting from when he slammed the witch into the rock but all other pain was gone when she healed him.

Thunderbolt's little legs flailed. "Lord Eggman, please set me down!" As delightful as it was to be carried under the arm of the most esteemed Overlander this side of the Universe she was embarrassed to be held like a toy.

"Oh, yes," he gently plopped the chinchilla down, "Sorry."

"Sonic," Tails yawned, "I guess the fight's over. We should probably leave now."

" _Seriously_ ," Sonic shifted his weight to another foot, "Are you okay?"

"He's fine! It's Doctor Eggman you're talking to! I'm sure she deserved it, anyway." Thunderbolt was sparking from her cybernetics and nearly frothing at the mouth.

"Go away, rodent. I'm fine." Eggman shooed Sonic away and hailed for Orbot and Cubot to send an Eggmobile to pick him up.

"Suit yourself," Sonic turned to Tails, "Come on, buddy."

Tails looked back as they walked away wondering if leaving Eggman and Thunderbolt alone was a good idea. He sighed softly when he noticed Sonic removed the witch orb from his glove and rolled it between his fingers.

"What can you tell me about alchemy?" Sonic squeezed the gem.

"Um," Tails bit his lip, "It's a philosophical proto-chemistry pseudo-religion school of thought-"

"Can you say it plainly?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I'm not fully awake yet."

"Sorry; it's a combination of magic and science. Mostly nonsense about creating gold from lead." The fox shrugged.

"From what I saw it looked like it could be a fighting style."

"Are you going to summon her?" Tails eyed the orb.

"Yeah, when we get further away." The duo quietly trudged from the sandy beach to the dark jungle. The only sounds were the crunching of leaves under their shoes and the occasional tweet until they came to a clearing.

" _Sheptilah, Sheptilah, Sheptilah._ " Sonic stood in the gap between trees and muttered the witch's name all at once as if it was a single, dangerous word that could pull every last bit of the air from his lungs if misspoken.

Sheptilah appeared with a puff of displaced air and landed softly on the dirt with her arms at her side. She bent forward as if to bow, still wet from having been thrown into the water.

"How can I help you, Sonic the hedgehog?" She grinned innocently.

"Why did you attack Doctor Eggman?" Sonic cut to the point.

"He tried-" She caught her breath. "He grabbed me by the _throat,_ " she hissed, "So I taught him a lesson about how to treat women." She extended her 'claws' and clicked the nails together.

"Why would he do that, though?" Tails put his hands on his hips.

"He thinks I'm gonna steal his empire from him or something because GUN is forcing me to hold his hand. They think us staying bonded is the best way to keep him under control; apparently it's not." Tilly shrugged and retracted her nails, "I just asserted my dominance."

"Don't do that again," Sonic felt his stomach churn, "I've seen enough violence to last a while."

He looked like he hasn't slept in days. The last thing he needed was a witch going berserk.

Tilly tilted her head and looked at the blue hedgehog with curiosity. "Are _you_ alright?"

"We've all been having trouble sleeping since the incident at the Soumerca base." The blonde fox sighed, "We saw some bad things."

She crossed her arms and shifted her weight so her hip stuck out and then sighed.

"I'm so sorry about everything. I won't do anything like that again where you can see it."

"Don't hurt anyone like that," Tails stomped his foot, "Don't be that way!"

She wanted to tell them that he crushed her skull on the rocks. She bit her tongue and took the verbal lashing because in the end the little fox was _right_.

"I don't know how things were back in your primitive times but these days we're civil and we do not do that. Sure, Eggman deserved a punch for laying a hand on you but to throw him to the beach where the innocent public could see and stab at him?" Small tears appeared in the corners of those big blue eyes, "That's terrifying."

"Tails," Sonic placed a hand on the fox's shoulder to calm him, "Don't get too worked up."

The witch ran her fingers against the side of her head that was still slightly damp with blood and felt where the crack had been. The fuzziness between life and death was terrifying. Feeling her brain heal itself and make connections again in real time was like waking up numb from a nightmare but unable to move your body.

Her face flushed red with shame. "I..." She scratched her cheek. "You're right. I need to be the better person. I suppose I should go apologize to the villagers as well."

"Nah," Sonic kicked some dirt aside with his toe, "No need to make a bigger deal of it."

Sheptilah looked around and marvelled at the jungle. It looked different when the sun was up. The beams of light peeking in through the leaves lit up the dust motes floating in the air like sparkles.

"I'll leave you alone now," she bowed again, "And again I am sorry. Summon me if you need me for anything." She turned and disappeared into the trees. Sonic looked at Tails expectantly but when neither said anything they too decided to leave the jungle.

* * *

"The audacity! The nerve! If I ever see her again I'll-" Thunderbolt was stomping around the lair. "I ran out of threats. Help me think of something else."

"You haven't threatened to peel back her skin yet." Eggman was sitting at his desk and typing up something at his computer.

"I will peel back her skin! Like a _banana!_ " The chinchilla stood triumphantly.

"Hah." Ivo chortled.

"What?" She twitched her tail expectantly.

"Nothing," he grinned, "Inside joke." He went back to writing up a report on the witch. "What's wrong at the Soumerca base?"

Thunderbolt paced back and forth. "I went back with and we found there was more damage. At first I suspected GUN was behind it but it was those goo monsters again. There was even more slime; like they were actively eating away at the base." She took out her phone and brought up the images she took at the site.

"There was nothing there when we got back, however."

Eggman hummed quietly in thought as he scrolled through the images. "Why did you not put these on the EggNet?"

"I wanted you to be the first to know," her face was full of determination, "I have ideas for a new base as well." In all honestly she didn't want the remaining Egg Bosses to see her perceived failures and any excuse to see Ivo in person was an excuse well-used.

The man tapped his finger absentmindedly on the control panel. He was still a bit preoccupied with having just lost a bloody fight and potentially dealing with GUN 'seizing' his assets and didn't want to talk about the Soumerca base.

"Computer," Eggman spoke to his machine, "Deploy a shield around the remains of the Soumercian Base and put up a motion-detecting security monitor."

The computer beeped with understanding.

"Is there anything I can do for you right now, sir?" She stiffened up when Eggman shifted in his seat.

He handed the phone back to her and sighed softly. "Just make yourself comfortable somewhere."

"Really?" Her tail bristled with excitement.

"By the way," Thunderbolt fluffed up her chest fur, "What started the fight?"'

"Insubordination."

* * *

The witch had draped herself over a thick branch in a very tall tree and changed back into her sarong and leather top. Her hair hung loosely over the side and she appeared to be sleeping comfortably in the humid shade like a cat.

"Amy, this is a bad idea." Sticks' voice was full of suspicion, "I'm telling you this jungle is _cursed_."

"Sticks," Amy huffed with frustration, "I just want fresh berries to make pies with. Sonic's been feeling bluer than usual and I wanted to cheer him up. Please stop being weird for a moment so I can concentrate on picking the ones that aren't poisonous."

Sticks got down on all fours and smelled around. "I smell fair folk."

"What?"

"That witch is here," she was sniffing the dirt frantically.

"Is she a witch or a fairy? Pick one." Amy adjusted the empty basket under her arm, "While you're down there keep an eye out for any edible mushrooms."

Sheptilah opened an eye to see the girls were standing beneath the tree she was in and that they hadn't seen her. She glamoured herself into the form of a simple brown mouse with a white tuft of fur on its chest and skittered down the trunk of the tree, disappearing into the brush. Sticks' ears turned to the sound of the leaves rustling and jumped toward it and was disappointed to see the pink tail of what she thought was a rat vanish into the shadows.

She followed the girls around the forest silently and curiously. Amy and Sticks had gone back to foraging in the undergrowth for berries, mushrooms and other treasures. Whenever Sheptilah found something good she would swing from the limbs of the bushes and make noise to get their attention. She would also direct them away from anything baneful with the same method.

"I don't know what you see in the guy," the badger shrugged, "Sure, Sonic is cute but blue? Overrated color."

Amy tilted her head to the side and a faint blush crawled up her already pink cheeks, "it's his enthusiasm for this world. He can control the Chaos Emeralds like it's nothing. He's saved the world countless times!" The hedgehog was practically skipping on her toes. "Sticks, he's perfect!"

"Okay, I see how he appeals to _you_." The badger grinned mischievously.

"What about you? Don't you like anyone romantically?" Amy giggled.

"Me!?" Sticks sounded scandalized. "Romance is for the birds; and the bees, if I am to believe what I'm told. All I want out of life is muck to roll in and lots of pretty rocks."

Amy snorted. "Okay."

The jungle was quiet and the air began to smell sweet. Almost _sickeningly_ sweet.

The hedgehog picked up the scent and was delighted to see it came from a cluster of white mushrooms. As she bent down to reach it the witch nearly dispelled her glamour to stop the girl but Sticks had already slapped her hand away.

"No! That's a deathcap!" The badger's icy eyes were wild with panic. "Don't even _look_ at those!"

"It looks like any other mushroom, are you sure?" Amy trusted her friend but Sticks was also known to be paranoid, "And they smell sweet!"

"See that bottom part?" the badger nudged the leaves away with her toe to reveal a puffy bottom to the mushroom's stalk, "Looks like a skirt?"

"Yeah?"

"That means it's a deathcap. Other white mushrooms in this area don't have that. See if it's wearing a skirt, it's gonna hurt!" Sticks stomped all over the mushrooms to prevent anyone from accidentally eating them.

" _Down-_ "

Stomp!

" _You-_ "

Stomp!

" _Evil-_ "

Stomp!

" _Fungi!_ "

Stomp! She pretended to brush sweat away from her brow. "Now they won't come back."

When the girls weren't looking Sheptilah snuck into the basket full of treats and hitched a ride back to Amy's house. She set the basket on her kitchen counter and started to wash the berries she picked to prepare them for baking.

The witch jumped out of the basket and tried to run across the counter but couldn't get any traction on the smooth surface. Her small brown eyes met Amy's large green ones. At first the hedgehog was startled but then breathed a sigh of relief when it came into focus that it wasn't a big roach but a simple little mouse. Sheptilah froze in place, unsure of what to do but was ready to transform back into a human if the hedgehog was prone to smash pests.

In one motion Amy scooped the rodent into a bowl she took from the sink and gently plopped the creature outside in the bushes. It's what Sonic would do , she thought to herself as she scrubbed her hands with hot water and soap.

Sheptilah sped off as fast as her tiny mousy body would take her until she came across somber music floating in the air.

Sonic swung in his hammock and strumming a few bars of a sad song on his acoustic guitar.

" _All the leaves are brown,_ " he hummed, " _And the skies are gray-_ " He clicked his tongue disapprovingly and adjusted the strings. He plucked a few chords and turned a few pegs until the notes were satisfactory and he strummed again.

That's when he noticed a brown mouse sitting on the tip of his shoe.

He turned away from it at first thinking it was a mirage from exhaustion but then raised an eyebrow at it.

The mouse nodded at him as if to say 'continue'.

He shrugged it off as he had fallen asleep and obliged the critter. Sonic strummed the guitar with his fingers and tapping the body with his thumb to create percussion.

"Since Christmas is right around the corner, and a little mouse is disturbing me, perhaps something seasonal?" He grinned and played Tchaikovsky's _Coffee_.

A simple melody with deep tones that sounded sad and pained. It evoked a feeling of slowly sneaking around a large room shrouded with mystery and heavy incense.

After barely a minute the blue hero dozed off with his guitar in his hands to the first peaceful, dreamless sleep he's had in a week.

The witch turned back into her human form and draped a nearby blanket across the sleeping Mobian and snuck out as silent as a breeze.

She then wandered around the beach past the big red echidna lifting weights.

"Hey, Knuckles." She greeted him as she walked past.

"Hey, lady." Knuckles didn't break concentration.

She continued on until she came to a palm tree with fronds large enough to weave with. She sliced them down with magic and sat under the tree knotting together the leaves to make a shallow bucket-style basket with a braided handle she could sling over her shoulder.

It wasn't a pretty basket but it would serve her purposes and like the pocket behind her head it was a little bigger on the inside with magic.

Tilly dug her toes in the warm sand while she put the finishing touches on her new bag. It felt good to do things by hand- even if she did cheat a little by reinforcing the ends with a spell.

She then stood, stretched until she felt the bones in her spine pop and walked into the water. The cold waves lapped against her feet making her shiver.

Then, like the water in the ziggurat at Shadow's feet, she beckoned the sea to part only where she stood. The witch, protected by a bubble of air around her body, picked up abandoned sHells and stones she thought were pretty and put them into the bag.

She walked so deep into the water that it became too dark to see without the glow of her Oracle Stone to light the way. The bottom of the sea was freezing and silent but peaceful. She came upon the real treasures now: nautilus and conch shells, anemone, seaweed, coral and starfish; all of which Sheptilah put into the bag.

"Ah." She felt a painful tug in her heart. She was too far from Doctor Eggman and the bond was pulling her back. Somewhere in his lair Doctor Eggman felt it too.

"Damned witch," he rubbed his chest with the base of his palm, "I don't know what she's doing but she better stop it."

He and Thunderbolt drew up plans for the next Egg Army base in Soumerca but he was having artist's block. Balls of crumpled paper were tossed everywhere around the dining room.

"Don't think about her," Thunderbolt brushed a paper ball off the table with her tail, "She'll be the death of you."

"I know," he chewed on the end of his drafting pencil, "Maybe we should focus on getting rid of her."

"I'll get the vegetable peeler!"

"No; I meant getting rid of the threat of the witch-eaters."

"Oh," she was disappointed, "What of GUN threatening to arrest you when it's over?"

"The witch won't hand me over, I know this." He wondered if he could incorporate the ziggurat which was somewhere in the Midesta region as an Egg Army base. "She doesn't like them. However her familiar is there… This does pose a threat to me."

"Her familiar?"

"Shadow the hedgehog is her familiar. Neither of them like that fact, which is a silver lining. This means I can manipulate her into seeing GUN as the enemy. All I have to do is paint myself as the sympathetic man who, by no fault of my own, inherited the sins of my grandfather. I'll have her join my Egg Army."

"What!?" Thunderbolt was horrified. "Sir, please!"

"It's perfect!" He stood and paced around the room. "She'll have a uniform and everything. I'll turn her against GUN and she can work with our Egg Bosses as another one to fight the alien threat citing the organization's failed attempts at dealing with similar situations."

"But a _Boss?_ "

"Yes! Picture it: Egg Boss Sheptilah of the Bygone Island region!" He rubbed his evil hands together. "And you as my most trusted boss will be her instructor."

"Yes, sir!" She saluted him. "Do I get full authority over her?"

"Yes, within reason. I have calls to make and Egg Bosses to reinstate. For now make yourself scarce: I have to charm the woman into seeing things my way."


	21. Work From Home

"The preparations are complete; though I do not see the point to it." Orbot scratched his dome. "This seems a little much."

Eggman crossed his arms and looked at the dim dining room that was filled with the glow of burning candles and the smell of savory vegetable dishes.

"What do witches like?" Eggman pulled at his sleeves.

"According to the internet they like jars. A lot of jars." Cubot straightened up a napkin he so lovingly folded into the shape of a swan.

"Broomsticks, pointy hats, coffee mugs that say 'the witch is in'." Orbot unfolded the swan and flattened the napkin.

"Dead flowers," Cubot folded the napkin again, "Five-pointed stars."

"Ouija boards." Orbot ripped the napkin from Cubot's hands and unfolded it and slammed it on the table. Cubot reached for it but decided it would be best to leave it alone and backed away when Orbot's eyes glowed red.

"I think I need to update your search engine on the EggNet…" Eggman sighed.

"She's at the gate, Thunderbolt poked her head in the room, "Ready to work your magic, boss?"

"Let her in the lair and bring her to me." He cracked his knuckles.

The chinchilla bolted to the entrance to let the woman in.

"I wanted to apologize to you for earlier, Thunderbolt, I just didn't want you to get hur-" Sheptilah was interrupted mid-sentence by the chinchilla pulling her by the skirt to the dining room.

"Lord Eggman has much to discuss with you," she tugged, "It's urgent."

"You're going to rip my skirt off if you pull any harder." She gripped the knot holding it up so it wouldn't come undone.

"That's the last thing I want to do," Thunderbolt let go of the hem, "This way." She led the witch to the dining room.

"Oh, _gods_." Sheptilah felt her stomach drop when she saw the romantic setting complete with two cups of chilled red wine.

"Your highness, welcome back to my tower," he pulled out a chair and gestured for her to sit in it, "Thank you, Thunderbolt. You can go back to your business."

"Yes, sir." Thunderbolt bowed and scurried out of the room and slid the door closed then pressed her large ear to it to listen in.

The witch furrowed her eyebrows suspiciously and sat in the floating chair. " _Doctor…_ "

"We got off on the wrong foot. I wanted to apologize for my reckless behavior earlier." He sat in his chair with a soft 'whumf' as the cushion gave way under him. "I really must explain my actions."

"I wanted to apologize, too," she cast her eyes to the side, "I did go a bit overboard." _Even though you crushed my skull,_ she seethed internally.

"I truly didn't mean to slam you so hard. When I heard that wet crunch," he winced, "I realized had gone too far. I still have a slight headache from the bond retaliating against me."

He honestly did not intend to throw her with such force. He sometimes forgot how strong he was compared to normal humans.

"Overlanders… we are mutants." He removed his glasses and revealed those eyes like dim-burning coals in the pitch of night.

Sheptilah flinched. She had only ever seen those kinds of dark sclerae in people who were slowly strangled to death.

"Mutants?"

He put his glasses back on. "Alien interference thousands of years ago caused this. Thousands of years before you were born, even. It seems that aliens have been altering living things in this planet since the dawn of time."

Eggman wove a long and sad tale that was actually mostly true. He spoke of his cousin Maria and her relation to Shadow and the ARK his grandfather worked on. It began with alien betrayal and the state-sanctioned murder of his grandfather on camera for the world to see. It all clicked into place for Sheptilah: she saw Maria's murder and the fight with the biolizard when she scryed and those feelings of fear and hatred were _Shadow's_ , not his perceived victims'. She was afraid of him for no reason. He was telling the truth.

"I was lucky enough to be the one who caught Shadow in the exosphere and helped him gain his strength back but he eventually joined GUN against everyone's better judgment. I have been trying to emulate what my grandfather wanted to do with his life but I decided ruling the universe was more fun and profitable."

The witch chewed her food slowly and thought about all he told her while she tapped her extended nails on the table's glass surface. She waited for her Oracle Stone to detect if he was lying but it determined he was not .

"Why would you save Shadow's life?"

"Because he was as much my grandfather's as he is mine. I inherited my grandfather's sins and accomplishments by virtue of blood." Eggman traced his finger around the rim of the cup.

"It's complicated," she echoed his words from earlier, "You were afraid of losing your life's work to the same people that murdered your grandfather so you panicked." _I owe you for protecting my familiar_ , she thought.

"Yes, and after having thought about it I sincerely apologize for it. I do not trust GUN to stay the way it is- especially not if they steal my weapons technology and my wealth as well as my people." He finished off his food and sipped his wine.

"Why do you want to take over the world?" She avoided eye contact and stared at her plate.

"Why not? Besides, if I am in charge of everything nobody else will get hurt."

"So you think acute fascism is the only solution?" She raised an eyebrow. "Excellent way to be murdered by your constituents."

"No, the other solution is to kill _everyone_." He chuckled. "Look, I was a lot wilder in my younger days. It's much different now; even Sonic would tell you that. I am probably going to give up soon and retire and enjoy my golden years." He feigned sadness at the thought.

"I suppose," Sheptilah reached for the wine and took a sip only to choke at how strong it was, "Wine-making has certainly gotten more potent with time," she coughed, "I was unprepared."

He grinned. "Sorry."

She shook her head and took another sip. "It tastes great! I am just used to it being more watered down. Alcohol doesn't affect me much anyway; it's those healing powers I have. Back in my day we ate poisonous things for a slight buzz."

"You ate poison? For _fun?_ " He squinted at her from behind dark glasses.

"Yes, certain poisons." She threw back her head and finished off the wine in one gulp. "So don't waste your good wine on me." She set the cup down with a click. "But if you have hemlock on hand I will take it."

"It isn't a waste, I rarely have guests over." He shrugged. "I'm a very solitary man. Besides, you are a _queen_. Aren't you used to the finest of everything?" He poured her another glass.

"I slept outside with my family under the stars every night and was never fond of covering myself in jewelry," she tilted her head cutely, "So yes and no. I noticed that you live quite minimally. Your bed is too small for even just yourself. I'm willing to bet you actually spend most of your time on your amazing sofa."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes, you walked out of your room and straight to the sofa after I broke the sink- which is how I ended up in the room with Thunderbolt." The woman pushed her food around with her fork.

"Speaking of Thunderbolt," he leaned in, "I would like for you to lead my army in the fight against the witch-eaters."

" _What?_ "

"While we remain bonded it is in my best interest as well to help you. Therefore I would like for you to assist in commanding my army."

"I already have GUN at my disposal and they should be enough." She crossed her arms.

"Yes, but why not double your firepower? These witch-eating beasts are extremely dangerous."

"I still have to make the staff my mothers had in the fight. The same one that sealed the beasts away the first time. It takes so many rare items-"

"And the Egg militia will help you. I promise."

"I would prefer not to involve more people than necessary."

"They're already involved. Many of them are still being held hostage at GUN for my insured cooperation and their friends and family were murdered by the witch-eaters. These are very capable people from all over the world with many talents that would be a great advantage for you." He reached across the table and put his hand on top of hers as a friendly gesture.

She did not trust either organization; however if she had her hands in both of them she could keep a watchful eye on them. She had already gained an improbable amount of trust from Cabbot and Tower so why not? Being bonded to Eggman might not be enough to keep him under control, either.

"Alright. On one condition." She took her hand off the table.

"Name it."

"You leave the Mobians alone until after this is all over. _All of them._ "

He opened his mouth to speak and she interrupted him by holding a finger up in the air.

"Every. Single. One. Everything you've got going on currently? It stops. Immediately."

"Done." He grinned.

She sighed softly. "Okay. What's first?"

"Let's get you fitted for a uniform."

She snorted. "Are you serious?"

He nodded and let a smile spread on his face. "I'm not complaining but you can't run around half-naked."


	22. One Way Or Another

"Your blood tests came back clean. You're completely healed; it's as if you're twenty years old again. However, your kidneys are now showing as sitting backwards," a young male doctor with blonde hair and blue eyes was looking at the x-rays with befuddlement.

"Backwards?" Andrea was holding onto Boris' hand so tightly her knuckles were white.

"Yes, or rather _reversed_. Your left one is on your right and your right is on your left. Otherwise they're in perfect health." The doctor was pointing to the location of the kidneys with his capped pen on the x-ray. It looked like vines in white facing the spine, "These should be facing outward- not inward."

"What does this mean?" Andrea felt dread creep up her neck.

"It's called an ectopic kidney. The flow of urine is still going toward the bladder so overall you're fine it's just...posed oddly. What doctor did the transplant? I should send them back to medical school." The doctor put his pen in his pocket. "Also, how did they do it? You have absolutely no scars, and traditional transplants leave the old kidneys in!"

"We do have the privilege of doctor-patient confidentiality, yes?" Boris leaned in.

"Of course," the doctor nodded, "Nothing leaves this room. Not even President Tower can compel me to say anything."

He paused and then sighed, "The witch who helped all of those Egg Army people? She healed Andrea."

The doctor bit his lip. "She cured your renal failure?"

"She did it in under five minutes." Andrea nodded. "It felt cold...like being in an ice bath. It didn't even hurt."

"I wonder…" The doctor turned to the x-rays and then back to the Cabbots. "Do you think you can bring her here? I'd like to run some tests."

* * *

Shadow was sparring with Omega in the training room to blow off steam.

"We may have been fighting deformed children," the hedgehog dodged the robot's attacks, "And we may have to fight more."

"Those were _not_ adolescent meatbags." Omega caught the hedgehog by the ankle and flung him toward the wall. Shadow righted himself and pushed off the wall with his skates and grabbed Omega's head.

"It's still possible." Shadow's goal was not to actually damage the robot so he simply jumped down and rolled out of the way of Omega's incoming punch.

"I wish I wasn't her familiar," he spin-dashed around and knocked Omega over by hitting him directly in the chest, "I wish I wasn't involved."

"Calculating…" Omega righted himself. "Kill the witch and kill the beasts. This solves all problems."

"That's your solution to everything," Shadow rolled his shoulders, "But that isn't mine."

"Am I wrong?" The robot stared down the hedgehog. "This would also kill Eggman. Three birds, one stone."

Shadow paused before walking out of the room to go find Rouge for advice.

* * *

In Eggman's large office Orbot was taking Sheptilah's measurements while Cubot was pawing through her purse. Thunderbolt lounged off to the side watching carefully.

"It's bigger on the inside, boss!" The robot pulled out a shell. "Kinda like my brain."

"That's because it's so empty," Eggman groaned, "Chest out, Sheptilah."

She stiffened up for the measurement. "So Thunderbolt is going to train me? Right now, in the middle of the night?"

"Yes, you will need to learn how to use most of my technology and our written language as well as the history of the Eggman Empire." He was sketching up designs on his computer console.

"And how to command everyone," Thunderbolt chimed in, "Which means not being nice."

"Seriously?" Sheptilah yelped when Orbot took her chest measurement, "Watch those hands!"

"You don't have to be cruel but you do have to be firm." Ivo shot Cubot a look for going through the bag.

"I know how to lead an army;" she groaned, "Can I request that the uniform be a pinkish-purple? And there should be an opening for my Oracle Stone. Fabric rubbing up against it feels weird ."

"Weird?" He leaned back in his chair. "What happens if someone touches it?"

"Have you ever noticed that I never touch it?" She gestured to it, "You just don't do that. The sensation is unpleasant and if someone grabs it it will shock you. Badly. It won't shock me of course since it's my stone but still."

"Keyhole it is, then." He turned back to his computer.

Orbot finished taking measurements and gave them to Eggman to do with what he pleased and he and Cubot left the room to go do chores.

Eggman's computer beeped. He had an incoming message. He looked at his gauntlet and excused himself to answer it.

"This is Axel," the image of the water buffalo appeared on the gauntlet, "Egg Army Efrika is online and we are ready to re-engage. We have a group of thirty capable Mobians, not including myself."

"Good work," Eggman spoke quietly, "I am still waiting to hear back from Akhlut, Nephthys, Tundra, Cassia, Clove and Mordred. As always you are the first to be ready, besides Thunderbolt."

"I have not heard from them." Axel shook his head, "Sir, why are we re-engaging?"

"The Eggman Empire has expanded." He grinned, "And I have a new member to introduce."

"What of Wendy, Maw, Conquering Storm, Abyss and Kukku?"

"Wendy and Walter are currently imprisoned in another dimension. As for the others I am being extremely selective at this time. Consider yourself the cream of the crop, Axel." Eggman disconnected and returned to his office to find the witch had taken the form of a typical chinchilla and was chasing Thunderbolt around.

"I can't leave you two alone, can I?"

"Not really, no." The witch stood on her haunches and swished her tail back and forth, revealing a white tuft on her chest on otherwise gray fur. "I wanted to prove regular chinchillas are just as fast as Mobian chinchillas! Turns out Thunderbolt is right and Mobians are faster."

"I'm starting to wonder if you really look like a regular woman or not." He stroked his mustache in frustration.

"Well, my true form," she shifted into the image and voice of Sonic but with patch of white on her chest, "Is this!" She posed and blew a kiss.

"That is literally the worst thing you've done to me today," he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Including the gut-slicing?" She put her hands on her now blue hips

Thunderbolt twisted her face up in disgust.

"Oh, especially." He chuckled. "Though it's good to know you can take the whole form of others. I may need to use that ability later."

Sheptilah looked back over her shoulder at her tail. "This form is really cute but it's so hard for me to hold the glamour of my voice." She cleared her throat. "Maybe once I have more practice I can do it."

She bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet for a second and then changed back into her typical self and breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't mimic his speed, though. That would give it away. I also haven't spoken to him enough to feel confident in how he speaks."

"I think your uniform design is ready, what do you think?" He gestured to his console. It showed a long-sleeved orchid turtleneck coat that flared like a bell at the bottom. The length of the coat was modest and only came to her mid-thigh. The sleeves and hem were gold and it had a simple diamond-shaped keyhole opening across the chest to allow for breathing room for the Oracle Stone. Above and below the opening were golden crescent moons so as to frame the stone like a vertical triple moon goddess symbol.

White straps with gold buckles on the coat matched a white belt that went around a black jumpsuit, also with a keyhole, and black boots with gray slotted screw head-style padding at the ankles. White gloves completed the look.

"Wow. That's frighteningly conservative," Tilly was impressed, "I actually love it."

"And to think you could've had a wonderfully designed Eggman ensemble days ago if you had listened to me." Thunderbolt beamed.

Eggman smiled. "I'm so pleased you like it." He typed something into the console. Within minutes Orbot brought in the clothes fresh from the printer.

Tilly snapped her fingers and the clothes appeared on her body and fit perfectly. The weight of her hair being down pushed the coat forward and ruined the shape so she put it into a high ponytail with a glamour.

"It's fade proof, waterproof, and your shoes are shock absorbent. They will also allow you to walk on even the smoothest of surfaces without problem."

Sheptilah felt along the buckles that went across the middle of the coat's flare and gasped softly. "And there's hidden pockets!"

"Sir, what about the communicator?" Thunderbolt pointed to the side of her head where the injected device was to remind him of his next move.

"Cubot? Cubot!" Eggman tapped his foot impatiently. "That was your cue!"

Cubot came floating in holding a box. He was in such a rush he nearly crashed into a wall.

"Here you go, boss!" he held it up. He opened i and showed the woman: two glassy red earrings and a golden tiara with a red gem in the center.

"You should always wear these," he handed her the earrings, "The other Egg Bosses have little trackers and communicators in their skulls but seeing as that would kill you I've instead opted for these. All you need to do is squeeze one and talk and we will hear you if you are within range."

She put the earrings on by forcing the backs through her unpierced ears and was delighted to find they felt nearly weightless.

"With these you can be found anywhere and communicate with the rest of the army bosses. With this-" he took the tiara out and gently placed it on her head, "You can gain access anywhere on any of my properties. Never take this off when we are away from the lair."

Thunderbolt was awfully quiet. She knew full well what that crown did. In fact, she suggested it . The gem functioned like a key card that let her enter rooms any other Egg Army personnel would have access to but the most top-secret. Built into it was a mind control device just in case something went awry. Eggman had installed such fail safes in his traditional injected technology but he had to get creative with the witch.

"So it is a fancy key," it felt denser than her normal tiara, "Thank you."

"Soon you will meet the other regional commanders and those that serve under them." Eggman was very pleased with himself.

"What about Shadow?" Tilly bit her lip.

"Oh," Eggman had completely forgotten about _him_.

"I want him there, too." She flashed a cute grin. "I mean he is my familiar."

"He is going to be upset that you've joined the Eggman Empire, to put it politely." He stroked his mustache in thought. "Alright, just him, though."

She bounced on the balls of her feet. "Where are we meeting them? The others, I mean?"

"I haven't decided yet," he checked the time, "We should be off to bed. It's already one in the morning."

"Oh, by the way," the woman straightened her coat, "When is the next red moon?"

"What, a lunar eclipse? In this hemisphere?" He looked it up on his gauntlet, "Not for a few months, why?"

"Oh, uh, no reason," she lied, "It's just been so long since I've seen one…" She snapped her fingers and was back in her GUN scrubs. "I'm going to sleep outside. Thank you, again."

She waved at them, grabbed her frond bag and left to sleep in the garden.

Thunderbolt turned to Eggman and smirked. "You're good."

"Oh, I know." His devious grin made her heart skip a beat. "Human women are easy to charm."

"Hey, boss?" Cubot floated up to him. "Thunderbolt's new mecha is ready."

The chinchilla could barely contain herself. "Really?!"

"Yes! You've been a good minion so I thought I'd reward you." He bent down and lightly pat her on the head. This simple friendly gesture nearly killed her.

* * *

 _Men are so damned easy to charm,_ Sheptilah thought to herself as she settled down on the grass, _it's almost too easy._

She got comfortable in the cool, waning moonlight and almost fell asleep when Shadow, of all people, warped in.

"Oh for the love of-" She rolled over and sat up. "Oh, hi, little brother." Her entire demeanor changed. "What brings you here?"

"Your legal papers," he tossed a manila envelope at her, "We need to talk."

"About?" she opened the envelope and let the contents spill into her lap. A passport, photo ID, a temporary birth certificate with question marks for all of the data validated by GUN, none of which she could read. She put the materials back into the envelope and stuffed it away into the frond bag.

"Changelings."

She looked up at him with hatred, mouth curled into a snarl. "Don't you _dare_ say that word." She hissed.

"Why?" He crossed his arms defiantly.

"It's the most heinous slur I know," she stood, "Hebat was one. Do you know the ostracism we faced when we became queens?"

"Hebat? Your familiar?" _Uh oh_ , he thought, _I'm definitely in trouble now._

She balled her fists and sighed. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known." She bent down, grabbed her frond bag and walked past Shadow.

"Follow me." She opened a portal to the shore and stepped in.

He nervously obliged. Tilly unceremoniously closed the portal behind him. She sat in the cold sand and motioned for him to sit in front of her. He did so and she pulled him closer and held his hands in front of him.

"We don't say that word because it elicits hatred from the tongues that speak it and the ears that catch it." She pressed his hands together with her fingertips.

"What are you doing…?"

"Watch," she pried his hands apart and a puff of smoke escaped his palms and fizzled away, "Why would you ask about such a thing, anyhow?" She pressed his hands together and pried them apart again and sighed. She would have to share energy manually.

"I saw it in the grimoire. I think I misunderstood something. They have unstable magic and shape shift so I incorrectly guessed they were the witch-eating things."

"No, not at all," she rested her chin on the top of his head very carefully, "The beasts don't have Oracle Stones. Even hybrids do; any biological offspring of a witch will have one."

He chuckled. "I'm relieved to say the least. I thought we may have been killing misunderstood creatures that were defending themselves."

"Oh, that's what this was about? No, no, they're like under-evolved animals."

"But one of them talked to me in the ziggurat."

"What?"

"It talked, remember?"

"Ivo was holding my leg together, I don't remember much at that point." Her limb tingled just thinking about it.

"It was talking to me telepathically. It said it was the core of the building- _seriously_ , what are you doing with my hands?"

"I'm trying to get you to use your magic. Sometimes it's like a plug that you have to pull out in order for it to flow with outsiders. There's something there but I'm having trouble. It could be that chaos energy." She groaned. "This is annoying."

"It could be my rings." He shook his wrist, the golden band glittered in the moonlight.

"What about them?"

"They're inhibitors. If I use my full powers I could really hurt myself. I am the Ultimate Life Form and that means I'm full of intense energy that requires dampeners so I don't explode things without meaning to."

"You mean to tell me this entire time you've been holding back?"

"Yes."

"Oh my gods, are you serious?" She grumbled. "Then we gotta do this the hard way." She put a hand over her Oracle Stone and drew out raw power that took the form of a glittering, silvery liquid and pressed it against the white fluff on Shadow's chest.

He felt the magic 'bounce' around inside his body until it settled in place. It was so cold his first few breaths were visible.

He shuddered and choked. "A little warning next time!"

"If I caught you on guard you would have resisted," She shrugged, "The core of the ziggurat was my great grandmother. I mentioned that the building was her familiar, right? The core is her essence. Whatever was messing with its magic was manipulating a witch-eater that was already there."

She again pressed his hands together and pried them apart. This time there was more smoke and it held a form for a few seconds before dissipating.

"It worked! It worked! The magic's going!" She could barely contain herself.

" _Okay_ , so how do I use it?" He shivered. "God, that's cold."

"Think of something," she urged, "Like a little bird. Let the image 'flow' from your head to your shoulders and then your hands."

He closed his eyes and concentrated. He was able to get the vapor into the form of a little sparrow for a few moments.

"You did it!" She squeezed him, "You can do a lot of things as long as you concentrate hard enough and use your imagination."

"What happens if I run out?" He looked at his fingers and wondered if the Chaos Energy he could wield would hurt him now.

"Eh, you should be able to develop more on your own but if not I will just give you more. Oh, by the way I am involved in Eggman's army now and you are coming with us to the next meeting."

" _Sheptilah._ " He looked back at her.

She squinted, "What? It's the only way to keep Eggman under my full control. He has already agreed to stop everything he's doing until this is all over and that includes harassing Sonic and his friends. He witnessed my power earlier today when I nearly killed him after he nearly killed me."

"You _fought_ him?" Shadow's ears drooped down.

"Mhm," Tilly sighed, "He smashed my head against the ground and that made me upset; so I stabbed him in the gut in front of everyone in the village as a warning."

Shadow frowned and looked back toward the ocean. Storm clouds were forming on the horizon. "Well, I guess he deserved it for trying to murder you."

"Tails yelled at me for that. He was right, though; I shouldn't get carried away with flexing my powers. Anyway, Eggman apologized and offered to help. He must think I'm stupid and I may be in a strange time and place but I'm no fool."

The witch closed her eyes, "So I'm going to work both sides to my advantage in fighting off these lunar beasts. I don't trust GUN for what they did to you and Maria and I certainly don't trust Eggman but I trust you, Shadow. I hope you can trust me."

"So you know about Maria? Eggman told you?" The hedgehog gripped his knees.

Sheptilah recounted the story Ivo had told her. Shadow growled softly, "He left out the part when he manipulated me into being his slave. You really should have talked to me before you did this. Do not trust him, Sheptilah. _Never_ trust him."

"I don't," she pulled the tiara and earrings out from behind her head, "I would like GUN to quietly take a look at these and tell me if they're safe. He gave these to me and told me it's for tracking me and letting me into his buildings. Please bring them back as soon as possible."

Shadow took the jewelry and looked at it. "He gave you a crown?"

"I know, right? He thinks he's funny." She pulled the shrunken grimoire out as well and placed it in Shadow's hands. She then stood and opened a portal to GUN's main gate for him.

"Just imagine the book as being larger or smaller and it will shift in turn. Study it, write in it, whatever you like. It's just as much yours as it is mine. Take care, Shadow. I will fix everything in time."

"You are a _real_ pain in the ass," he chuckled, "President Tower is going to be mad."

"Let him be mad," she shrugged, "This is what he gets for not letting us get separated."

"Okay," he stepped through the portal, "I'll be back as soon as possible."


	23. Run Away With Me

"Midesta is online, sir." Nephythys spoke with great confidence. Although she is a middle-aged black and white vulture who wears a golden mask covering her face, she carried herself with a timeless air of conviction and pride and seemed much younger. "We are back at full capacity."

Eggman checked the time on his gauntlet. It was four in the morning. Damned time zones!

"Good." He hung up abruptly on her. The next call came from Mordred.

"Eurish is online." The green and gold cobra dragged out his 's' sounds. The robotic bodysuit he was wearing quietly creaked with each movement he made. Eggman dreaded having to upgrade that.

"Also good." Eggman hung up on him, too. His gauntlet beeped again, it was Cassia and Clove. Both were green and white pronghorns in gray uniforms with gold accessories.

 _"Yes?_ " He sounded annoyed.

"Northamer is back up and running," Clove looked weary, "Sir- may I ask-"

"Thank you and _goodbye_." He hung up on her. _Why did everyone have to come online at once at four in the morning?_

Ivo rolled over and yawned. I might as well get up now, he thought. As he was about to sit up his gauntlet beeped again.

"Oh, for the love of - _yes?_ "

"Artika is functional." Tundra the walrus spoke in a gruff, almost gravely voice. Although it wasn't visible under his thick blue coat and white mustache, Tundra's fur was bright purple. His tusks were no longer ivory but were replaced with steel implants.

"Good; and amuse me, Tundra, did everyone coordinate a four in the morning wakeup call just to annoy me or was it a coincidence?"

"It is a coincidence, sir." Tundra raised an eyebrow. Eggman had specifically asked them to contact him the moment they all were functional, regardless of the hour.

"It was a rhetorical question." Eggman hung up. He dragged his hand down his face and then got ready to take a shower.

* * *

"Why don't you sleep at normal hours any more?" Shadow handed the items to Hope to analyze.

The blonde girl looked to the time on her laptop and sighed. "I am stressed." She rolled the earring between her fingers.

"Careful," Shadow gently nudged the girl, "That's a short-range communicator."

"Ah," she put the earrings and crown down on her desk, "So you want me to scan them?"

"Mhm, these were 'gifts' given to the witch by Eggman. She wants to make sure they're safe." He kept his voice low.

She nodded and got to work. The earrings were perfectly safe but the crown was suspicious. Within the jewel was a tiny machine that could emit short-distance paralyzing rays.

"It's not tamper-proof. Look-" She was able to disable the software in the tiara while keeping the radio-frequency identification material safe so it would still function like a keycard.

"Check this out," Hope copied the software to her computer, "I think now I know how we can disable the injectors in Eggman's minions without him knowing. I would just need to be able to get a hold of one. If he's as sloppy with those as he is with this we can free them. The doctors are afraid if they surgically remove them the injections may explode, killing the patient. Have Sheptilah try and get us one."

"Okay," Shadow took the crown and the earrings, "Maybe it was a good thing she joined Eggman's Empire after all."

"What?" Hope nearly bit her tongue with surprise. "She did _what?_ "

"She fancies herself as a double-agent. We're going to meet the other Egg Bosses soon. I don't know how she did it but the woman convinced him to let me come along. Frankly I'm impressed." Shadow scratched his chin absentmindedly, "I suppose I need to get that phone then."

Hope groaned. "She's gonna get herself killed."

"No," Shadow held up a finger, "She's going to get herself and Eggman killed." He sighed, "Thanks, Hope. See you later; and get some sleep."

He teleported away to return the items leaving an exhausted Hope to spend her time alone on the internet in the middle of the night.

* * *

Eggman was surprised to see Sheptilah and Thunderbolt working together to make breakfast. Thunderbolt couldn't reach most things so she was directing the witch on what to get and how to make food.

Orbot was teaching Sheptilah the words for objects but Cubot was nowhere to be found.

He leaned in the doorway quietly watching them until he was noticed.

"Good morning, Lord Eggman!" Thunderbolt chirped when she saw him, "I made sure we both got up before you did so we could make you breakfast."

"Wanna know how to say 'eggs' in my language? _Nunus_ ," she flipped an omelette with the frying pan, "And learning this was ' _namrasu_ ', " she grinned, "' _Difficult_ '." The way she pronounced the words in English sounded funny because of her thick, Midestan-sounding accent.

"Do you even eat eggs?" He stroked his mustache.

"Of course I do," she flicked the spatula, "It's not _meat_."

"I made sure she added cheese to the middle," Thunderbolt beamed, "And chopped onions."

Eggman sat down with low hopes of the food tasting good but was pleasantly surprised.

"Did you cheat with magic?" He eyed the witch suspiciously.

She put both her hands behind her back and shook her head, "Nope, Thunderbolt wouldn't let me." Sheptilah turned around and shut off the stove top and placed the skillet in the sink. She then sat down to eat after gently patting Orbot on the head so as to thank him.

"So, when did you want to start learning alchemy?" She still had that bad habit of speaking with her mouth full. Orbot rubbed his head with confusion and got drinks for the table.

"After we meet with the Egg Bosses. They are all already back online." Eggman grinned from ear to ear, "I'm quite pleased with their progress."

Thunderbolt gulped down her food. "I haven't trained her yet."

"That's fine- train her on the fly." Eggman was very impatient, "With any luck I will have Metal Sonic back online, too."

"Where is Metal Sonic?" The chinchilla overloaded her eggs with ketchup and greedily munched down on them.

" _Safe_. Metal is safe, squirreled away somewhere top-secret." Eggman rested his elbows on the table and tented his fingers.

"Who is Metal Sonic?" Sheptilah eyed how Thunderbolt was eating and moved her plate further away from the Mobian.

Eggman straightened up. "Metal is only my greatest invention! My most beloved creation- a robot made in Sonic's image."

"So... you hate the hedgehog but you built a _copy_ of him?" Tilly raised an eyebrow at Ivo.

"A _superior_ copy! It takes a hedgehog to beat a hedgehog." Eggman pointed his fork at the witch somewhat menacingly. He then looked at his gauntlet and to Thunderbolt.

"I have an idea. Get ready," he stood, "And call Shadow." He half-jogged off to his office.

"I…" Sheptilah sighed and got to her feet. "You better go follow him." She urged Thunderbolt.

She watched the chinchilla run off after Eggman.

How in the hell was she going to call Shadow? They certainly weren't around each other enough to develop a telepathic bond. She snapped her fingers and transformed into her Egg uniform and opened a portal outside of the lair to GUN's gate.

* * *

"I know it's highly unorthodox but I need your permission to leave the premises at any given time." Shadow was sitting in Cabbot's office. The man appeared more cheerful than usual; that is until Shadow explained what Sheptilah was up to.

"Keep an eye on her," Boris pinched the bridge of his nose, "And I'll try and butter up President Tower to keep him from flipping his lid. But yes, you can go."

"Sir?" Apollo stuck his head in. "Miss Sheptilah is here looking for Shadow. She says to meet her outside?"

"Ugh," Shadow scoffed, "What does she want _now?_ Excuse me, Mr. Cabbot." Shadow teleported outside and nearly knocked over the woman with the air displacement.

"Hey." She greeted him by bending down and waving.

"What the Hell is that outfit?" He grimaced.

She twirled around and posed. "My uniform."

"You shouldn't come around here wearing that." He was stunned at how ugly it was. "Well, why are you here?" He figured it was best to not to comment on the aesthetics.

Sheptilah sighed and put her hair behind her ear with a finger. "Eggman said to get you. Apparently we're leaving soon."

"I have to get some things first." He pointed his thumb back at the fortress.

Sheptilah nodded and opened a portal back to the island. "Please hurry. I don't know what he's got planned but between you and me I'm terrified to be alone with him after he nearly killed me."

Shadow nodded and warped to his dorm.

* * *

"Alright, make sure there's enough supplies to last four adults for the week." Eggman was directing Orbot and Cubot around the docks under the lair, "you never know with the arctic circle."

"It's the middle of December and you want to go to the North Pole? I ask this as someone who is concerned about you but _why?_ " Orbot pressed his fingers together with frustration.

"It's the most remote," Eggman tapped his foot impatiently. Orbot threw up his hands in surrender and went back to loading the submarine. It was a massive steel ship that could dwarf a gray whale.

"Here's the sealskin coats, boots and gloves out of storage in the sizes you requested." Cubot handed Eggman a big box of coats made from seal leather and lined with real mink fur. Ivo set it down with a heavy thud and checked the contents.

"Ah," he admired the workmanship, "Such luxuries." He looked down at Thunderbolt. "While your kind has the thickest fur of all Mobians I still think you will freeze to death without a coat so-" he handed her a tiny cloak, shoes and gloves, "This is for you."

Thunderbolt gasped softly and nearly cried from the overwhelming beauty of it. She knew how expensive such clothing was and vowed to never even look at it too hard for fear of ruining it.

"You are truly the most generous. I'll treasure them forever." She rubbed the soft fur up against her cheek.

He himself put on a coat to test its size. It fit very well except for it being tight in the underarms. After removing it and putting it back in the box he tested the cushy boots and gloves. Everything was nearly perfect.

"Eggman?" Sheptilah was wandering around the lair calling for him.

"Hey, boss," Cubot floated up to him, "The lady is looking for you upstairs."

"Is Shadow with her?" He sounded eager. Cubot shook his head and Eggman's mustache drooped. He instructed Thunderbolt to board the ship and wait for him.

After taking the elevator to the top floor he found the woman going through his pantry and holding an assortment of spices in her arm.

"I got tired of looking for you and decided to further stock my pitiful apothecary," she spoke without turning to him, "Ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, sea salt," she was counting off the list of items she was holding, "And last, but certainly not least: chili pepper."

"I thought you couldn't read the labels." He scoffed.

"I can't; I'm using my nose," she tapped it with her free hand, "I'm not nearly as stupid as you would hope I am, Ivo." She pushed past him and laid her treasures on the counter and loaded them into her frond purse and was disappointed to note that the hammerspace she created was nearly full.

"Why do you need all that?" He peered over her shoulder curiously. She stuck out her elbow as an aggressive gesture telling him to back off. He stepped to the side courteously.

She inhaled sharply. "Because it's what witches do; they carry around random assortments of herbs and other things for witchcraft on the fly. I don't know what you have planned but I hope I can find use for the things I've collected so far."

"We're going to the arctic," he noted, "So I don't think you're going to need anything like that."

"The arctic?" She waited for her stone to translate. "Why are we going to the North Pole?"

"It's remote and we won't be bothered," he shrugged. He had ulterior motives for going that far north in the winter, "And unlike G.U.N. I will actually have supplies and winter clothes for everyone. Have you ever seen snow before?"

"Snow? No, I have not."

"You're gonna see a whole lot of it," he beamed, "Where's Shadow?"

"He will be here shortly-" And like that the doorbell rang.

Shadow had a gray messenger bag with him that contained his notebook, the shrunken royal grimoire and some weapons as well as miscellaneous items like gum and hard candy.

"Cabbot is displeased, Sheptilah," he squinted at her when he opened the door, "But I have permission to come at least."

"Shadow!" Eggman seemed much happier than usual, "What a pleasure! Come on in, we are about to embark to the great white north."

"We're going to the arctic? In the middle of _December?_ " He looked at the man blankly, "Have you gone mad? We'll all die in a whiteout."

"We're going in a submarine."

"That only makes me feel slightly better," Shadow turned to the witch. All she could do was grin nervously.

Eggman showed them to the underground docks where the massive submarine was located.

"My beautiful Ohio Class Submarine known as the _N.S. Chondrichthyes_." He gestured broadly to all of it with his arm. "The Egg Purse! Isn't she adorable?"

"Ohio class? It's named after a mostly land-locked Northamerian state?" Shadow scratched his chin.

"It just means it's nuclear powered," Eggman shrugged, "That's the classification. You take the fun out of everything."

The hedgehog shot the witch a look as if to say _come on, really?_ Sheptilah put her hands together pleadingly and promised to make it up to Shadow.

Eggman led the group into the submarine and closed the hatch. He then sat in the cockpit which was covered in dials, buttons, levers and small screens displaying all kinds of information but no windows. Thunderbolt was already buckled into the copilot's seat with her microphone and headphones on, holding Eggman's out for him to take.

Ivo put on his headset and started flipping switches to start the submarine. Orbot and Cubot had directed Shadow and Sheptilah where to sit and buckled them in. The seats were surprisingly cushy and comfortable.

"Ladies and Shadow," Eggman's voice came on over the PA system in his best flight attendant accent, "Please remain seated until you are given the all-clear. We're getting ready to take off for the Egg Army Base in Artika. Estimated time of arrival is in ten hours. In the unlikely event of an emergency there are Air Charms located under your seats. Please note the emergency exits plainly marked to your left and your right."

Ten hours to the arctic from the equator? That's insanely fast, Shadow thought. If it was roughly four thousand miles from the equator to the arctic circle then that means they'd have to travel at three hundred and forty seven knots . Absolute madness!

Orbot and Cubot gestured to the exits and then hooked themselves up to their docks to charge.

The ship rumbled slightly. "Here we go!" The hull slightly creaked and they felt the sensation of descent pull in their guts.

"I understood exactly none of that," Tilly anxiously chuckled, "What'd he say?"

"We'll be there in ten hours and there's Air Charms under the seats if we sink." Shadow was going through his messenger bag and pulled out some sour hard candy. "Do you get motion sick?"

"I don't get sick, period." Tilly breathed a sigh of relief.

He popped one in his mouth, "Want one?"

"Sure." She held out her hand. He shook one out of the container into her palm.

"Don't bite it," he warned, "Just suck on it."

She put it in her mouth between her teeth and her cheek. For a moment she didn't taste anything and then her face was turned up in a twist.

"Oh, gods what is _that?_ " The candy clicked against her teeth.

"Sour apple." He couldn't help but snicker.

Tilly coughed. "I kind of like it but," she swallowed it, "A little warning next time!"

"Did- did you swallow it?"

"Yes?"

"You're supposed to suck on it until it's gone." He blinked.

"Give me another one," she held out her hand, "I can do this."


	24. I See Stars

"Sonic? Sonic." Amy tapped her cards impatiently. She and Sonic were kneeling at opposite sides of her coffee table and she was waiting for him to pick a card for his daily horoscope. She still had some cookies baked with the ingredients left over from when she foraged in the jungle with Sticks.

"Oh, sorry Ames," he carefully picked a card, "I'm dozing off." He took a sip of his cola which had gone flat. It was only midday but he was already exhausted.

"It's alright," she took the card from him, "Six Of Cups. Oh, man." Amy wrote this down in her notebook and looked up the meaning.

"You yearn for a time when things were easier." She put the card back into her deck.

" _I_ could've told you that," Sonic sighed, "But I mostly just want the nightmares to stop." He was nervously shaking his tail.

"Well, sometimes the cards get sassy. " Amy said.

Sonic playfully rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue.

"I find that if you talk about your nightmares they seem less scary." She urged him.

"Nuh uh," he shook his head, "Bad stuff. From back at the Soumerca base. I only got one good night's sleep since."

Amy pondered this for a moment. "What if we threw a sleepover here at my place? I'll get Sticks, Tails and Knuckles to come over!"

Sonic yawned. "Sure. That sounds like fun. I can't suffer if I can't sleep."

* * *

To pass the time Shadow taught the witch more sign language and she let him read her personal grimoire. The ship moved so smoothly you wouldn't know how fast it was going unless you stood up and walked around.

He was surprised to see she used it more like a scrapbook diary than a notebook.

Leaves with notes for identification were stuck to the pages with honey and bits of sand fell from the spine of the book. He could barely make out her choppy handwriting at times but skimming through it it was obvious she had trouble maintaining power as queen.

Both the hedgehog and the woman were doing their best to remain amicable despite neither wanting to be there. She wanted to get started on the Lunar Scepter but decided to look at the royal grimoire in a more private place.

"They hated you." He said.

"No, they _hated_ Hebat." Tilly corrected him. "Because her father was an armadillo but her mother a human." She was braiding her hair absentmindedly.

"I still don't understand how that's physically possible," he shuddered, "So many Mobians are born with claws and-"

He was interrupted by her putting her hands on his cheeks and stroking his soft face with her thumbs. "Healing powers. We have healing powers. Don't think about it."

"But-"

"Shadow…" She smiled nervously. " _Don't think about it._ "

Well, now he couldn't help but think about it. His expression was of disgust and fear.

She sighed. "Doulas cut them out with a sharp knife made of bone right as labor started and healed the mother right away but there was still considerable pain and blood loss."

"Are… are you one, too?" He squinted at her. "Your eyes and hair are unnatural colors."

"No," she shrugged, "I am pure-bred hominid. I'm just a mutant one, I guess. An Overlander."

She withdrew her hands. "We need to track down all of the beasts and destroy them. I don't know how many there are," she flipped through the pages of her grimoire, "I would also like to see the damage to the moon."

"I'm sure I can find you some photos," Shadow said, "Maybe even some live satellite feed."

She turned to him and smiled half-heartedly, "Sure."

After about three hours into the open ocean Eggman put the sub into autopilot and came into the guest quarters with Thunderbolt.

"Orbot, Cubot, it's lunch time!" He nudged the robots awake so they could prepare a meal for them.

"Eggman, I will admit that this submarine is impressive," Sheptilah sighed, "But ten hours in an iron box? I might go insane."

"You'll be fine," Thunderbolt jumped into her lap, "For now we need to train you." She squinted at the woman, "Where's your earrings and tiara?"

"In the back of my head." She answered.

"You should be in full uniform at all times!" She turned around and slapped Sheptilah with her tail, "Even if it includes a tacky crown!"

"Tacky?" Eggman sounded wounded. He pouted.

"Uh, yes ma'am!" The woman took the refurbished items out of their hiding place and put them on.

The chinchilla then took out her phone and showed Tilly mugshots of the Egg Bosses they were set to meet.

"Mordred." Sheptilah answered. Thunderbolt nodded and flicked the screen. "Cas- Clove?"

"You were right the first time," the chinchilla scolded her. Shadow got up to walk around and stretch his legs. He could hear the two women chattering, or rather, he could hear Sheptilah squeaking whenever Thunderbolt used her tail as a weapon.

He was mentally kicking himself because he forgot the book he was reading _again_. He lost the first copy of _House Of Leaves_ at the hospital and the second copy Rouge got him was left behind. He slipped Hebat's scale out from inside his glove and looked it over. _Why did she want him to have this? For luck? A reminder?_ And yet he found some comfort in having it.

"Shadow?" Eggman approached him from behind. The hedgehog slipped the scale back into his glove.

"Yes, Doctor?" He turned around to face the Overlander.

"I'm so glad you could come along. We do have some things to go over." Eggman tented his fingers. "For one, I would prefer you not be in the room when she is introduced to the underlings. They may panic."

"Not gonna happen; anywhere she goes I also go." Shadow said defiantly. "Or we leave right now."

"You can be outside the door."

" _Inside_ the room."

"Shadow." He pleaded.

"Those are the rules. I am in the room with her." He crossed his arms.

Eggman made a strangling gesture with his hands and then let them fall to his sides. "Fine."

"Lunch is served!" Orbot spoke over the PA system.

The men rejoined the women back in the passenger compartment. Thunderbolt's meal consisted of dried dandelion leaves, freshwater and dried apple chips. Shadow and Eggman's meals were both rigatoni pasta with sausage and Parmesan cheese whereas the witch's was a plain bag of carrots.

"We didn't bring a lot of fresh vegetables," Eggman shrugged, "Everything is frozen or prepackaged. We did what we could with short notice."

Sheptilah was already munching on the carrots without a care. "I'm used to them being purple but these ones taste just fine."

They all enjoyed their meals quietly and then Eggman went back to the cockpit with Thunderbolt. After a few minutes they could feel the submarine slow down to a crawl. Eggman turned on the PA system and spoke.

"Looks like there's after meal entertainment," there was a click and then whale songs, "There's a large pod of humpback whales following us. They're also slowing us down."

Shadow looked at the ceiling on the submarine, ears subconsciously twitching trying to track the noise.

It sounded like sad wailing with clicks and purrs mixed in. Several whales were trying to talk to the sub only to be ignored.

"Sometimes whales mistake submarines for one of their own," Eggman chuckled, "It's kind of cute."

Sheptilah audibly swallowed but then relaxed. "I wish I could see them." She pressed her hand up against the side.

"They won't hit us, will they?" She turned to the hedgehog.

"No," he shook his head, "Well, probably _not_."

Eggman flipped some switches and brought up the external camera to see what was going on since all of the whale songs were messing with his sonar. He was annoyed with having to drive manually and huffed.

"Do you want to blast them?" Thunderbolt grinned.

"No, they're just whales," Eggman scratched his chin, "But they are getting annoying."

Sheptilah moved to the cockpit with Shadow following behind and knocked on the door. Tilly found it was unlocked and opened it.

"What brings you here?" He looked over his shoulder at her.

"I want to see the whales." She leaned on the back of his seat. "Is that them?"

"Those big gray blobs on the screen are the whales, yes." He tapped the screen.

The hull of the ship creaked slightly and then it started to tilt; Eggman quickly righted the ship.

"And it just bumped into us," Ivo huffed, "That's it." He flipped some switches and adjusted his microphone.

"They're exploring the sub," Shadow said, "Like when a house cat rubs up against something new."

"Get out of here you overgrown fish! Shoo!" He yelled into the microphone. "You fat… fats!"

" _Fat fats._ " Shadow repeated, raising a brow.

"Hush, you!" Eggman cleared his throat and turned to the microphone. "Abscond! Vamoose! Overgrown sardines! Nobody likes you- you fat salty assholes!"

The whale songs got louder and it was almost as if they liked what they were hearing. The animals were then suddenly alarmed by something else and swam in the other direction freeing up the submarine.

"Finally!" Eggman turned off the microphone. "Hold on." He sped up the sub and re-engaged autopilot when it was safe.

"Thunderbolt, man the controls. I have to go train _them_ now." He stood with a groan and escorted them back to the passengers' quarters.

"Aye, aye, sir!" Thunderbolt saluted.

"This way." He led them to an office meeting room with a large metal table shaped like an egg. It was bare and the seats, also egg shaped, were cold. Orbot and Cubot were waiting for them and served three cups of tea.

"Thank you." Sheptilah took hers and sipped it. Green tea without sweetener was bitter but she enjoyed it. Shadow politely refused his drink.

"I have some materials for you two." Eggman pulled the box out from under the table. In it was the rest of the the winter clothes like the ones he bestowed upon Thunderbolt earlier.

Shadow's was a toddler-sized hoodie and Sheptilah's was a very long hooded cloak that fastened closed with buttons. Both were made of sealskin with mink lining.

"It's so heavy." She put it on. It was at least twenty pounds and it was warm. "I could've used this the other day back at my house." She rubbed the soft fur against her cheek.

"There are also mittens and boots," Eggman pulled them out, "I had to guess Shadow's shoe size."

"I won't wear them," he pushed them away, "I do not take off my skates."

"Your feet will freeze solid." Eggman furrowed his brow.

"I'm the Ultimate Life Form; I'll be fine."

* * *

Eggman drove the sail of the submarine up through the ice with a loud crunch. The quartet exited the submarine in their winter gear and admired the beautiful terrain. The cold was biting but there was no wind so it wasn't entirely unbearable. The sky was littered with stars and the aurora swayed above them like a dancer's scarf. The moonlight softly illuminated the powdery snow. They each had explorer's backpacks full of materials in case of emergency, except for Thunderbolt who was in her mecha.

"This is the great north?" Sheptilah was dazzled.

"Due to the ice being so thick from disuse of the base - they were unable to open the submarine gate so we must drive the five miles across the snow." Eggman pointed to a large covered sled that looked more like a sports car with two reined robotic reindeer idling, waiting to drive off.

They stood at the top of the submarine, at least twenty-five feet from the ground.

"How are we getting down?" Orbot spoke curiously.

"Here's how." Eggman shoved the robot back into its compact orb shape and chucked it into the snow; then did the same with a screaming Cubot.

Sheptilah took several steps back then ran across the hull and jumped. She landed in the thick snow with a shrieking giggle.

Thunderbolt and Eggman jumped together while Shadow simply teleported.

"I love snow!" Sheptilah was up to her waist in it. Thunderbolt stood proudly in her warm, cozy robotic exoskeleton while Shadow was sinking into the soft powder and could barely keep his head up.

"I do _not_." Shadow was aggravated by the landscape. Sheptilah lifted the hedgehog up by his waist with her arm.

"You are _dense_ , mister," she chuckled, "Why do you weigh so much?"

"I have a lot of secrets." He joked.

The group piled into the sled and dashed toward the base at the Cool Edge Zone, which was only five miles away.


	25. Crescent

"Is it true?" Dave, the blue river rat that seemed to be the only employee to work at Meh Burger asked Tails about the fight with Doctor Eggman while flipping the patties.

"Yeah," the fox yawned between words, "It's been handled."

Dave squinted suspiciously at him and began to formulate a revenge plan. How dare someone do _that_ to the greatest evil mind in the world?! After his shift he ran off to the Lightning Bolt Society to get their support.

Knuckles, Sticks and Tails arrived to the sleepover at Amy's house with armfuls of Meh Burger plunder, chips and liters of soda.

The night went well enough: music, dancing and party games that Sonic was having trouble enjoying and, quite frankly, so was Tails.

When the early morning hours crept up on the group they all slept in a row on Amy's floor under blankets and on cushions. Sonic was very cozy nestled between Tails and Knuckles while Amy and Sticks were snuggled up using Knuckles as a pillow. Sonic found comfort in their soft breathing and quiet snoring. He drifted off to what he hoped would be a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Thunderbolt was outside of the sled and attached to the back of it by her mecha. Shadow sat between Sheptilah and Eggman while Orbot and Cubot remained in their compact forms at his feet.

"Don't speak. Be mysterious and keep your hoods pulled over your heads when we get inside." Eggman was instructing them. "I do not want any surprises or rumors. It will be a bit before the rest of the bosses get here so I've made sure we have accommodations waiting for us."

Sheptilah slowly turned her head to look at him blankly. She drew her hand down her face and it disappeared into the hood like pitch blackness. Then she flashed a sharp, toothy Cheshire grin; the only thing visible in the darkness.

Eggman was unimpressed. "Reel it back a little."

She frowned and dispelled the glamour. "I can glamourize Shadow, too."

"Please don't." The hedgehog said. "I'm glamorous enough."

Eggman stroked his chin with his index finger and thumb. "Make the cloak black and hide your face. Don't let your hands or uniform be seen. Do the same for Shadow."

Glamorizing herself was one thing but holding a glamour over someone else could be difficult if they strayed too far. She would be next to Shadow the whole time so this would not be a problem.

She thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Shadow, when glamoured you will still be you, but your clothing will change." She ran her hand across the velvety soft hoodie he was wearing and it transformed into a thick black hooded cloak with pockets for his ears. The new clothing was longer than he was tall so it completely covered his shoes. The backpack and messenger bag he had on were rendered invisible to everyone but him.

Although the shape of the coat changed, it was still just as warm. She did the same for her own clothing.

"That's _perfect_ ," Eggman grinned, "This is going to be entertaining. As much as I hate Shadow being in the room- the looks on their faces when he pulls back his hood is going to be _priceless_."

"This is going to end in tears. Probably mine." Orbot moped.

They arrived at the massive construct within minutes. Tundra himself was there to greet them and escort them into the gigantic igloo painted to look like Eggman's face that served as the main hub.

The floor was smoothly cut ice and very slippery. The boots Eggman designed definitely would come in handy when Tilly took off the sealskin covering them. The tall, imposing walrus was a little unnerved by the hooded figures and wondered what exactly Eggman was up to. He swore he could see black smoke drifting out from under the hems. For a moment he wondered if the two were _wraiths_.

Orbot and Cubot followed behind Eggman lamenting the cold. Though the frigid temperatures were necessary for the supercomputers housed below them, the little robots only cared about themselves and complained of freezing to death.

Tundra did not speak to the two in the hooded cloaks and silently showed them to their quarters which was directly next to Eggman's and the rooms had a door that allowed guests to pass between them.

They were essentially hotel rooms with en suites. Each had a large, plush wooden bed and an empty wooden trunk.

"I was expecting a bed of ice." Shadow said. Sheptilah dispelled the glamour on both of them and set her bag down. She started digging through it for snacks and came up with apple chips that were as hard as rocks.

"I'm going to go wash up. Thunderbolt, I want you to prepare the meeting room for when the rest of the bosses arrive." Eggman took a knowing tone with her.

Thunderbolt saluted in her mecha. "Yes, sir!" She walked off, barking orders to the skeleton crew on the way.

The man then turned to Sheptilah and Shadow. "Stay in this room."

"Ivo?" Tilly tilted her head.

"Yes?"

"Don't tell them about my iron allergy. That's all I ask."

"Of course. The idea is to make them believe you're _invincible_." He grinned mischievously and left the room, softly closing the door behind him.

"Wanna go explore?" She whispered to Shadow.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Not yet. I have things I need you to help with." He set his bags down and sat on the bed and motioned for her to sit with him. She did so and pulled off her sealskin boots and set them aside.

"Rouge?" Shadow spoke into his communicator.

"Shadow?" Her sleepy voice responded after a moment. "Good to hear you arrived alright." Rouge looked over at her digital clock and sighed. "It's two in the morning."

"Here it's ten at night," he chuckled, "Go back to sleep. I was just checking in. Let Cabbot know, please." He looked up to the witch, "So, about that thing-"

"What's the issue?" With a snap she changed into her usual clothing and shook the contents of her frond purse onto the bed.

Shadow leaned in and kept his voice low.

"Every living being involved with Eggman has something injected into their brain. This thing is rigged to explode or paralyze them whenever he sees fit. GUN wants you to procure one for us so we can safely remove them. Our doctors are afraid that if they remove it manually it will detonate."

"I'm aware of them and I will be more than pleased to help with that," she looked over her things and seemed alarmed. She reached into the back of her head and pulled out all the objects stored within. Some gold pieces, the bag of Hebat's scales, the manila envelope with her identification papers, the boline and her personal grimoire.

"What?" Shadow squinted.

"My athame," she felt around the headspace with her other hand, "It's gone."

The hedgehog picked up the large conch sHell and looked it over. "Are you talking about that old rusty knife? You probably left it back at the ziggurat."

Sheptilah's eyes were wide with horror and she nervously bit a fingernail, "I'll have to get a new one. Getting a new athame is a real pain in the ass. You have to consider what it's made of and what the handle is like and the weight of it and ...ugh!"

"So we can go get you a new athame," he snorted, "Or you can go into the kitchen and just take a butcher knife and call it a day."

Sheptilah rolled her eyes at his suggestion. She then stood and went to the bathroom door.

"Could you check for mirrors? Please?" She chuckled nervously. "I don't...want to get caught scrying again."

Shadow hopped off the bed and peeked into the bathroom. He saw there was a mirror and turned to Sheptilah. "Yes, there's a mirror."

The witch groaned with disgust and went into the bathroom and filled it with thick mist. When she located the mirror by feeling for its smooth surface she untied her sarong, hung it over the mirror and dispelled the fog.

"Captive scrying is dangerous," she flicked the light on and drew herself a very hot bath, "I broke Eggman's sink by accident looking for you."

Shadow was leaning against the wall outside the bathroom. "I am afraid to ask for the details."

The steam crawled out of the bathroom by Shadow's feet.

"Are you cooking yourself in there?" He heard her get into the water and sigh contentedly.

"Hey, Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"What was it like living in space?"

He was quiet for a moment and then spoke with words heavy with bittersweet nostalgia.

"We're at the north pole right now in the winter season. That means it's dark all the time with the stars and planets always visible. It was _like_ that but without the aurora and you could look down at the planet. When the space station was orbiting over Mobius when it was night the major cities lit up like constellations."

"Heh." Tilly chuckled. "That sounds nice."

"Gerald had told Maria and I how blue the sky was during the day. What he didn't tell me was what sunsets looked like. When Maria jettisoned me to safety it was a hard landing and by the time I woke up the sun was going down on the horizon. For a moment I thought the world was ending because that beautiful blue sky turned so dark and red."

Shadow pulled at the sleeve of his glove. "I was trapped inside that capsule until GUN. retrieved it and put me in suspended animation. I thought the world was on fire because everything was so _orange_ when they whisked me away. I thought the ARK had crashed."

To him the color blue was intense. It's the color of Maria's dress that matched her eyes and the sky she will never see. It was also the color of his _rival_. He is surrounded and haunted by the simple hue.

"They kept me awake for a few years running experiments on me while I suffered in silence. I was in a tube not unlike the one I was born in. I was kept drugged but conscious, so I remember everything. It was about six years of that treatment. The worst of it was being left alone for weeks on end to suffer in paralyzed darkness. I suppose it wasn't much different from your experience in the crystal."

It was so easy to open up to her. He mentally kicked himself for allowing her to see this weaker, more tender side of him.

"I feel your sadness." The witch sat in the water with her knees drawn up to her breast and her arms around her legs. Her heart was fluttering wildly like a caged bird.

"Are you empathizing with me or are you _literally_ feeling it?" He kept a close watch on the gap in the doorframe to see if any of the Egg army minions were walking around.

"Both." She saw her submerged skin was turning bright red but it did not hurt. "I'm sorry for being cruel to you this past week. You really didn't deserve it and I am a terrible witch for treating you that way."

She watched the steam come off the water in the brief moment of silence.

"I accept your apology." He heard the water slosh as she stepped out of the tub. After a moment she stepped out in the uniform.

She looked depressed and her eyes appeared dulled.

"Nobody is ever going to hurt you again. If someone so much as _looks_ at you wrong I will…" She held her tongue. "Never mind; I shouldn't use violent words. An even six, seven, eight, et cetera."

"I can protect myself." He looked up at her. "Would you have said that if I wasn't your familiar?"

"Yes, of course. Nobody deserves such cruelty." She frowned, looking down at him. She then realized how physically small he really was. "We should practice your magic."

His ears perked up and then flopped down. "I need to know something."

"Yes?"

He inhaled sharply, "Would I have been able to heal Maria?" His gut tensed up and his tail pointed downward.

"She was born sick? Her body was attacking itself?"

"Yes."

"No, _you_ would not have been able to." Her ponytail swayed softly as she shook her head.

He exhaled slowly. He felt a mixture of failure and relief knowing he couldn't have helped her.

"I don't quite… understand what DNA is but I do know that if someone is dying in their own body and they _shouldn't_ be they would need an extremely difficult procedure. It's called _Vampire's Bath_. It sounds more romantic than it is."

She knelt down so she was eye-level with him, "You drain the blood from several witches to the point that they feel faint, but not _completely_. This blood goes into a cauldron and it _must_ be filled to the brim. Then it's slowly boiled until it becomes thick like honey. After that it's allowed to cool."

His stomach turned.

"The sick person is then cut all over the body with a boline and lastly across the throat. Then they are submerged into the cauldron and after a while brought back up. By then the concentrated witch blood would've entered their body and began to heal it from the inside."

"That's… that sounds like a primitive blood transfusion." His eyes darted around the room. "Your blood is what heals _internal_ injuries and illnesses?"

"For things like basic little cuts, nausea and dehydration I don't have to do such extravagant magic. However for sickness like with Mrs. Cabbot that's how I cured her. I magically transferred her kidneys into my body, let my blood heal them and then put them back in her body."

"You can't let anyone know that your blood is a panacea." His voice was almost a low growl.

"What?"

"You can't tell _anybody_ about that." He looked very nervous, "Sheptilah, if someone like Eggman finds out your blood can cure anything _you will be bled dry_. They'd sell it to the highest bidder and keep you just barely alive to harvest more."

"Shadow," she sounded offended, "I haven't told anyone but _you_." She imagined being kept in a cell unable to move with needles and tubes sticking out of her just like in the hospital. She shuddered. She smiled at him. "But that's good to know."

"This world is dangerous." He warned.

* * *

The Lightning Bolt Society met once again in Dave's tiny basement. Well, his _mother's_ basement.

"I'm not getting involved," Willy Walrus shrugged, "That's Eggman's thing."

Dave sucked in hair between his clenched teeth. "You don't understand! She disrespected him!"

"She tried to kill him." Another person spoke up. "I'm not messing with Overlanders."

"I agree," another spoke with a mouth full of potato chips. "You're on your own with this one."

Dave was livid. He could almost feel the braces on his teeth straining to keep his jaw in place from clenching so hard.

"Fine!" He stood proudly, "I will handle this myself!"

* * *

They sat and spoke for a few hours while he practiced making smoke figures.

Sheptilah had put all her things back into the frond purse and then put the bag in the interdimensional pocket behind her head.

"How much can you fit in there?" Shadow was bored being confined to the room and decided to do push-ups to ease it.

"It's about full, actually. Hey, can you do that thing where you curl into a ball?"

"You mean this?" He tucked himself into a spiky sphere.

"Yeah! That's so weird, isn't it hard to breathe like that?" She tilted her head curiously.

Shadow rolled himself forward and with a muffled voice he answered, "Not at all. You said Hebat was an armadillo?"

Sheptilah nodded. "Pink fairy armadillo, specifically."

"Armadillo Mobians can curl like this, too. She never did?" He unfurled himself.

"No, her armored back was delicate unlike typical armadillos. It also flared at the ends and it took on a tube shape when she rolled up. Not very practical."

She brought up a magically projected image of Hebat. She was very short and curvy with white fur covering her legs that flared below the knee. Her torso had heart-shaped bit of sand-colored peach fuzz and soft white hair kept in a cute bob framed her round cheeks and dark eyes.

Unlike other armadillos her nose was quite small and pink. Her 'armor' went from her head to her ankles and was bell-shaped with frilly layers and lace-like fur at the ends. Her hands were actually large claws shaped like a shovel and her tail was long and thick. A stole of white fur around her neck and shoulders made it hard to see her Oracle Stone.

 _She looks like a princess,_ Shadow thought to himself.

"You know- they should start calling you _king_." The image of Hebat dissolved.

"I'm sorry?" It was as if Sheptilah could read his mind.

"King Shadow. I'm _queen_ and you are my familiar- as equals that means you are a _king_."

A knock at the door interrupted his train of thought. It was Thunderbolt and Eggman.

"Are you decent?" The Overlander's voice called.

"Shadow isn't wearing pants." The woman used her tattle-tale voice. The hedgehog rolled his eyes.

"Now is not the time for jokes," Eggman opened the door, "It's showtime." He looked quite serious.

She and Shadow stood and she re-applied the glamour to them both.

"I look like the grim reaper." Shadow said. He was surprised that his voice came out distorted and breathy.

"You sound demented." Eggman commented.

"I thought I'd disguise our voices, too." Sheptilah shrugged.

The meeting room was brightly lit and smelled of coffee and freshly baked cookies. Orbot and Cubot had put out settings for the tired guests. Only a few of them sipped their drinks.

Eggman entered the room followed by Thunderbolt in her mecha and the two wraith-like people behind her. All but Tundra quietly panicked wondering just what it was Eggman had roped them into now.

Thunderbolt stood by the door while Ivo had walked with Sheptilah and Shadow to the head of the egg-shaped table.

"I'm pleased you all made it in one piece!" Eggman grinned. "I have quite the tale. I was out in the Dust Hill Zone and encountered something wonderful."

Sheptilah's hooded figure slightly turned toward the man. _Wonderful? He tried to kill me yesterday._

"She is an ancient witch queen and I had rescued her from a crystalline prison. Because of this we are now tasked with something intense that I require your assistance with." Eggman sounded grave.

"A _witch?_ " Clove found herself speaking up without meaning to. The hooded figure nodded. Her face reddened with embarrassment quickly cast her gaze downward.

The others looked at each other nervously while Thunderbolt herself appeared bored.

"As you may have heard, the Soumerca base run by Thunderbolt was ravaged by a strange creature. This being killed dozens of our people and nearly took us out with it when we rescued Thunderbolt." Eggman continued gesturing broadly with his hands. "Our guest single-handedly saved the life of Thunderbolt as well as the lives of other Egg Comrades with her immense healing powers.

Now it is our turn to repay her. She has agreed to be the newest Egg Boss and she is your superior so you will follow her every direction. Do this for us and I will do something unprecedented: _you will all be freed from your lifetime contracts with me._ " He shot a pointed look at Clove. "This includes your injectors."

"What?" Tundra leaned forward with both of his huge hands pressed flat against the table.

Nephthys and Mordred were uneasy as they were both using Egg Army forces to maintain control over their respective regions but they loved the concept of the injections being removed.

"Free us?" Clove's ears perked up.

Cassia stood. "What about our cybernetics?"

"You can keep them." He shrugged innocently.

"What is it we have to do?" Axel leaned his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his hands.

Eggman turned to Sheptilah as a cue. She pulled back her cloak and it vanished when it hit the floor. The other bosses were expecting an eldritch horror but instead saw a perfectly normal-looking Overlander and were visibly relieved.

"I am Sheptilah, Egg Boss of the Bygone Island Zone. This world is in danger." She described the witch-eating beasts and the bond with Eggman joining them together. Then she explained Shadow's role.

"And this… is my familiar." She gestured to the smaller figure.

Shadow pulled back his hood and expected to hear outrage but none came. In fact there was palpable sense of relief.

"I feel better knowing Shadow the hedgehog is on our side." Cassia said, avoiding eye contact with him.

"I agree." Akhlut raised an eyebrow.

"I want one thing to be clear," Shadow spoke, "I am not on _your_ side. I am on hers."

Sheptilah nodded. "First thing I ask you to do when you all return to your respective zones is to stop any and all projects you are working on and inspect the area within fifty miles for any activity that could have come from the witch-eaters. I also ask that you speak to the locals to gather any intel on odd, shape-shifting monsters they may have witnessed."

The witch smiled. "I also wish to spar one-on-one with all of you to get to know you better."

Eggman's smug grin turned to a slight frown and raised eyebrows.

"And I would like to start with you," she pointed to Axel, "And do not hold back."


	26. Cutie Chaser

Eggman could kill her. _She wants to_ fight _them? Of all people she chooses_ Axel _first? She's incredibly weak to iron and his gauntlets are iron chains._ He wanted to strangle her for her recklessness.

"Wouldn't that hurt Lord Eggman?" Mordred nervously pulled on his tongue. "Since you are bonded?"

With one hand on her hip and the other on the table Sheptilah leaned forward. "Good question, Prince Mordred." The cobra Mobian flushed a bit at being called by his self-given royal title by an _actual_ queen.

"Also a bit of a dumb question but at the same time it is a good one." She stood up straight and gestured with her free hand as she spoke. "What makes you think that Doctor Eggman cannot handle whatever you throw at him? _Please._ "

Shadow knew she was being tongue-in-cheek but Eggman and the bosses all took it like she was telling the truth. The good doctor's ego was given a strong boost by her words.

"If you aren't terrified of him you aren't paying attention." Sheptilah stared down Mordred.

"Rest up; the scuffles will begin in a few hours." Eggman said proudly.

Orbot and Cubot were picking up the plates and cups to be disposed of. All of the Egg Bosses had left the room to rest and prepare for the sparring with Thunderbolt directing them where to go.

Shadow watched closely as Eggman approached the witch who was fiddling with her gloves.

"Are you warming up to me?" His hot breath tickled her neck. She stuck her elbow out as a warning and he backed up obligingly.

"They have to believe you're invincible. Leaders do not show weakness." She huffed.

"I've seen you cry _at least_ four times since I met you." Shadow chortled from the corner.

She turned to look at the smug hedgehog and pursed her lips. "Crying isn't weakness. Weakness is pretending you have no emotion because you are afraid of how people will perceive you for shedding tears."

"Hmph." Was his only response.

"Your mortality cannot come into question, Eggman. I know most of them hate you. I don't want them thinking they can kill _me_ just to get to _you_." She looked up at him and his glasses she could see a faint glint of red.

"And yet you wish to fight them?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Why are we out here in the arctic, Ivo?" She dodged the question.

"Because it's quiet."

"Yes, and?" She expected a better answer. "Tell me the truth."

"Your highness," he said glibly, "I wanted to see the northern lights reflected in your beautiful violet eyes. I wanted to see you playfully frolic in the snow you've seen only for the first time. Hearing your screaming laughter was _delightful_."

Her cheeks felt warm. Was she _blushing?_ She looked to the side with embarrassment and shame.

He couldn't help but find her reaction very endearing. _Under her dirty, tough exterior she is still a woman,_ he thought.

"Such a romantic." Orbot sighed wistfully.

"I think there's a cream for that." Cubot mused.

"He wanted to make sure GUN couldn't bother him," the hedgehog rolled his eyes, "And we couldn't run away just in case we dismantled his entire empire by eliminating all of his active Egg Bosses. Isn't that right, Doctor?"

Shadow hit the nail on the head. Eggman grinned. "You always were my grandfather's greatest achievement."

Sheptilah sidestepped around the man and went over to her familiar. "To answer your question earlier… I was inspired by the fights with you and Shadow. I learned a lot about the both of you. I also need the training as it's been five thousand years since."

"Haven't you been in suspended animation?" Eggman was typing something in his gauntlet.

"I was awake for much of it; conscious, rather." She bit a nail.

"Wait, you were alone with your thoughts for that long?"

"Yes and no." It was hard for her to explain. "I was aware I was trapped in the crystal. My biological functions were stopped but my magic was still going. I tried to get out but surrounded by absolute blackness and impenetrable walls made me terrified. After so long I was so drained of energy my Oracle Stone took over and waited for someone to revive me."

"Were you _always_ claustrophobic?" Shadow asked.

"No," she nervously straightened her coat, "Now that I think of it maybe my people trapped me because they thought I was useless but didn't have the guts to kill their queen. I must fight all I can now. I need to prove I'm worthy of the Nannae lineage and the title of queen."

"You two were made for each other," Eggman rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Creepy likenesses."

"Well, duh. That's how the Universe works." She squinted at him with disbelief. "That's how familiars work."

Orbot and Cubot left the room to dispose of the cutlery.

"Come on, Shadow," she gestured to the door, "Let's go walk around. I need to stretch my legs after spending all that time sitting down."

"I'm coming with you." Eggman insisted. "Can't have you two getting into trouble!" The witch's response was to put him to sleep with that thumb-against-the-forehead trick. She then put him in a chair and rested his head in his arms on the table.

" _Like I said_ , let's go for a walk." She shut the door behind them and they wandered around the icy fortress. Even with the Egg Bosses and their skeleton crews around it was still very empty.

Sheptilah felt around for snags in the Universe to open portals but found none.

"Hm…" She grumbled to herself. "Not a lot of activity here. No people, no knots."

"What's up?" Shadow's metal shoes clicked against the ice floor.

"I wanted to check on Sonic but…" She sighed. "If I can't open a portal I can't do that."

The hedgehog rolled his ruby eyes. "Please, what could _he_ need?"

"Ever since the thing at Thunderbolt's base he's been plagued with nightmares. It's gotten bad enough that he can't even function."

Shadow felt a pang of guilt. "I should never have let him in that base."

Sheptilah reached over and lightly stroked the spines on the top of his head, "As if you could've stopped him. I haven't spent much time with him but I can already tell he's _stubborn_."

"He's just a kid." _Not much older than Maria was,_ he thought to himself _._ Now he felt even worse.

The witch crouched down. "Usually when a child experiences death for the first time it's a pet or a family member. I guess with strangers it's weirder."

"No, it isn't that. Sonic… _loves_ everything with all of his heart. He believes that he can save anyone and anything if he tries hard enough." Shadow clenched his fists. "We should not have let him in there."

"He saved Thunderbolt. He was the only one small enough to fit into the vent and I did not have enough energy back then to shapeshift. Without Sonic that chinchilla would've died." She felt the bridge of her nose tingle. "I saw a weird side of Eggman that day, too. He pulled Sonic from the vent when he realized he couldn't get down easily and he was so _gentle_. I don't understand any of it."

"Yeah, he does that sometimes." The good doctor did in fact save Sonic and Tails on more than one occasion.

"Shadow? How old are you _really_?"

"Nineteen."

"You're just a kid, too." Her heart thudded painfully. She stopped speaking and stood when she heard footsteps approaching. It was Tundra.

"Where is Eggman?" The gruff walrus demanded. "You should not be out wandering alone; especially with _him_." The walrus stuck a thumb out toward Shadow.

Sheptilah stuck out her chest and crossed her arms. "He is in the meeting room drawing up plans. We are just exploring this base. I am from an arid desert so being in a frozen one is _fascinating_."

"I see," he peered her over, "At any rate I'm eager to watch you fight. I cannot respect a leader who has no taste for war and I want to see you prove yourself."

She couldn't help but smile. "I told Eggman the same thing earlier." The trio walked forward with Tundra serving as a sort of chaperone to make sure the hedgehog did not get into any trouble.

"Are you eager to fight me?" Tilly chuckled. "I heard you have ice breath. I want to see it in action."

Tundra pounded his palm with his fist. "I am always eager to fight!"

* * *

The arena was a massive room with stadium seating. Large flat screen TVs fixed to the walls along with a heavy-duty speaker system provided music and visuals. The battle ground was deeply recessed into the ice floor and hard as concrete. Shadow, Thunderbolt out of her mecha and Eggman were sitting near each other with the Egg Bosses scattered around the room in their seats. Orbot and Cubot were offering bags of popcorn to each of them.

"Are you sure you're read-" Eggman was cut off when she handed him her accessories. Sheptilah removed her earrings and crown and gave them to the man. She then took off her coat and gave that to Shadow. The clothing under her pink coat was a simple tank-top sleeveless style bodysuit. The thinness of the fabric combined with the cold air made her skin break out in goosebumps.

"I'm always ready." She gave the thumbs-up gesture she learned from Shadow. She then jumped into the arena and waited for Axel to appear.

"You didn't give her underwear?" The hedgehog narrowed his eyes at the Overlander.

"I realize the mistake now," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Well she _could_ always stab him with her nipples."

"That's not GUN standard issue weaponry but if it works, it works." Shadow said.

Eggman was caught off-guard by the hedgehog's reaction and had to grip the armrests to keep from sliding out of his seat from laughing so hard.

Axel appeared and made his way down to the ring and jumped in. "I apologize for being late," he said, "This place is a maze."

"Twenty bucks on Axel beating her." Thunderbolt held out a crisp twenty dollar bill and snapped it.

"You're on," Eggman grinned, "MARI?" He spoke into his gauntlet.

"Yes?" The digital image of an older teenage girl with one eye a darker blue than the other, short black hair and a button nose. She sounded like she was heavily autotuned.

"Play some mood music." He twirled the edge of his mustache.

"Gotcha!" MARI winked. "Now playing… _War Cry_ by Indecent Noise."

A heavy, driving hard trance beat came on over the speaker system. Eggman spoke into his gauntlet again but this time his voice was heard over the music. "The sparring matches will each be over under one of the following conditions: you are knocked out of the arena or you are unconscious. You may also surrender at any time. Begin!"

Axel swung his hooked chain at the witch.

"Who is MARI?" Thunderbolt wondered if she had another Overlander to deal with.

"She is the deejay at the Stratosphere club as part of my recommissioned Starlight Carnival. Her name is an acronym: Music And Remix Interface. She also controls my music libraries and maintains some of Eggmanland's robots." He seemed proud to show off his AI creation.

" _You_ own the Stratosphere Club?" Shadow couldn't believe it. Rouge _loved_ that club and tried to drag him there many times.

"I own a lot of things-" He was interrupted by Sheptilah impacting the wall with great force.

The pain went away with her rapid healing powers before either Eggman or Shadow could feel it. Sheptilah landed hard on the ice and rolled over, dodging Axel's thrown hooks. One of them had gotten lodged in the ice and the water buffalo struggled to get it free. The witch jumped up and ran across the taut chain. She then kicked Axel hard in the chest and rolled forward when he landed.

"Woo!" Tundra shouted excitedly. Axel looked up at the witch and growled. He dislodged the hook and caught it in his hand.

Sheptilah took her hair out of the ponytail and split it in two, one half in each hand. She rolled her wrists to build momentum as her hair grew longer and longer.

MARI'S voice came back over the system to announce the next song change. "Now playing… _Problem [Solo Version]_ by Ariana Grande."

"Nobody cares, MARI." Eggman barked into his gauntlet.

"I care!" Her face turned to a tongue-wagging emoji before disappearing.

"What the Hell is this music?!" Axel grunted.

"It's one of my AIs, she thinks she's _funny_." Eggman shrugged.

"I kind of like it." Shadow mumbled.

"See?! _Shadow_ likes it, what's _your_ problem?" Eggman was gesturing broadly with his arms.

Cassia was dancing in her seat to it with a hesitant Clove bobbing her head along.

"Focus!" Sheptilah shouted at Axel. "This is a fight!" She sent a bunch of tendrils at the man who punched them away. More came at him with great speed. He flung his chains around successfully breaking them.

"I wonder what hair conditioner she uses." Nephthys mused.

"Why do you have Ariana Grande, of all people, on your playlists?" Thunderbolt was a little weirded out.

"MARI is streaming from the internet. This is how she runs the club music, too. MARI, bring up the queue." Eggman flicked through the songs and removed some of the odder choices she had cooked up.

"You are so _old_ , Eggman," the AI sounded annoyed. She hated when people screwed around with her sets.

Axel grabbed a fistful of Tilly's hair and pulled her forward like he was playing tug-o-war. She was dragged slowly across the ice. Axel, however, didn't see what was coming up behind him. The hair he had pulled back changed into a dagger-like entity that wrapped itself around Axel's arms and pulled them back violently, dislocating both shoulders.

The pain was excruciating and all Axel could do was howl.

Silently on the mounted flat screens MARI announced the song change with text over a visualizer graphic: _Geometrix (feat. Driftmoon) [Tempo Giusto Radio Mix],_ Ferry Tayle.

The audience winced and yelled when they heard the _pop_ of Axel's shoulders move out of place. The water buffalo was so angry he bowed his head and charged at the surprised woman and nearly bisected her at the torso. He kept running forward with his arms flopping uselessly at his side until he hit the ice. By virtue of his horns being solid steel, this did not hurt him.

He did, however, hurt Sheptilah. Shadow felt the crushing blow in his ribs and gasped for air. Eggman himself felt the same pain and gritted his teeth.

The witch broke out into a cold sweat from the agony and realized she couldn't move her legs. He had paralyzed her.

"You forced me to do this, Mistress." Axel snorted, clouds of vapor curling around his snout. "You asked me not to hold back."

"Then why _are_ you holding back?" She managed to choke out. With a smirk she flicked a finger and the hair wrapped itself around his torso and dragged him back until his horns dislodged from the ice wall and dropped the woman to the ground.

Once free of the steel horns she was able to heal herself and gave her foot a cursory wiggle to test the repair. Unfortunately for her when Axel rolled on the ice wall it reset one of his shoulders. With his now semi-fixed arm he popped the other in place.

"Easiest twenty bucks I ever made." Thunderbolt chuckled, fluffing up the green fur around her neck. "So much for your Overlander friend, huh?"

"Just wait." Eggman said.

Powering through the soreness the hulking Mobian pulled his chain back and sent it flying again, the hook cutting her upper arm. It felt like fire was licking her flesh. The wound bled freely and openly. She sealed it with a crystalline band and she had had enough of him; with one final magical blow she had sent the water buffalo out of the ring and into the unoccupied seats. Orbot and Cubot ran to him to make sure he was still alive, both giving a thumbs-up to confirm this.

The robots then administered first aid.

Thunderbolt groaned and handed the money to a very excited Eggman. Sheptilah sighed and retracted all of her hair. Her eyes scanned the room looking for her next victim. Mordred tried to make himself as small as possible and prayed that he was not next.

"Akhlut!" She called. "I challenge you!"

The orca grinned and stood. He made his way to the arena just as the music changed again.

" _Crescent (Radio Mix)_ by Raminio." MARI announced.

"Want to make another wager?" Eggman turned to the eager Thunderbolt.

"What's your bet?" She asked him.

"Twenty on Tilly getting knocked out."

"Ye of little faith." Shadow rolled his eyes and then realized something. He scratched his chin in thought. " _Akhlut_ is the one with psychic powers?"

"Yes." Eggman bared his teeth in a devious smile.

"So if he scrambles her brains, does that mean ours get scrambled, too?" The hedgehog squinted at the Overlander.

Eggman's mouth became a tight line. He leaned over the wall and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Tilly! Don't let us down!"

She turned to the man and waved her hand as if to tell him to shut up. Eggman slipped and almost fell over the edge. It took the efforts of Shadow and Thunderbolt grabbing the seat of his pants to catch him.

Orbot and Cubot continued to hand out snacks to the viewers. Other members from the skeleton crews came in to observe after they heard the commotion.

"Do you need time to rest?" Akhlut politely asked the woman.

"No," she bobbed her hair, "I hear you have excellent hand-to-hand combat skills as well as mind-breaking powers. This will be _fun_."

The orca took a powerful and defensive stance waiting for the witch to make the first move. She ran at him and unleashed a flurry of punches, none of which landed as he blocked them effortlessly. The Egg Bosses had a very bad habit of leaving their backs unprotected; something Sheptilah was glad to take advantage of.

Before the orca could use his psychic powers on her she shape-shifted into a little brown mouse and ran under him.

"What the-" Was all he could say before she changed back to her human self and extended her nails into deadly claws, stabbing his tail.

"She fights dirty." Clove sounded extremely stressed.

"We'll fight dirty, too!" Cassia flexed a robotic arm trying to appear brave.

"You are not going out there, I won't allow it," Clove shot her sister a look, "You're too young."

"Oh, please," Cassia shrugged, "I can handle myself."

Akhlut felt the dull pain throb in his tail and retaliated by attempting to punch her down. Instead he hit the ice and it left a huge crater in his wake.

With shovel-like claws she stabbed Akhlut between his ribs. She didn't count on his dolphin hide being so _thick_. Akhlut barely felt the stab and did not even flinch.

Tundra fell in love instantly. There was a deadly conflict going on between his clan and Akhlut's, which seemed to be getting resolved all at once.

"I just might propose to her." The walrus sighed wistfully. Nephthys raised an unseen eyebrow at him and shook her head disapprovingly.

"You would have _ugly_ children together." She commented. Tundra couldn't help but guffaw.

The televisions changed again: _Pangaea,_ F.G. Noise vs Tom Exo.

"Did you think you could gut me like a fish?" Sharp green irises on black sclerae were piercing.

"Kinda, yeah," she laughed nervously, "Is it just me or is this music weird?"

"At least the robot has the courtesy to let us know what music to block later." Akhlut grabbed the witch by the throat and squeezed. He then shot a psychic attack toward her. Her body went limp for a second but then her eyes glowed brightly as the Oracle Stone took over.

 _This is my space,_ the witch spoke, _no visitors allowed._

Akhlut seemed to be standing in a black room with no discernible walls or ceiling.

"Madame?" He found it hard to breathe. His chest tightened like a vice was squeezing every last ounce of life out of his heart. "What is this?"

 _You are in my mind,_ the witch's voice echoed, _this is my turf._ _You will learn just as Ivo did that you cannot choke me and walk away unscathed._

She uttered an ancient banishment spell, filling the orca's head with cacophony. Back in the tangible world the orca was screaming and clutching his head before he collapsed, unconscious. Sheptilah felt something warm trickle over lip. She had a nosebleed.

"God," Eggman had a slight headache, "What happened? Do I keep my money or not?"

Sheptilah knelt down and healed the orca who then left the arena feeling about shameful for his loss. She then climbed the wall and made her way to the water buffalo and healed him.

"Thunderbolt gets her money back." Shadow said. Eggman scoffed and handed the bill back to her.

"I should've healed you right away," the witch said dryly, "I got distracted. You almost killed me, you know that?"

"Well, you said not to hold back." Axel smirked.

Sheptilah looked around. "Who's next…? Mordred!"

The cobra, being cold-blooded, was unable to stay awake in the icy fortress and went into a hibernation-like sleep.

"Or not… Nephthys!" She called for the vulture.

"Yes, my lady?" She turned her masked face toward the Overlander.

"I would like to challenge you, though perhaps I shouldn't."

"Why not?" The vulture tilted her head ever so slightly.

"When I am from, Nephthys was in our pantheon of gods. Specifically the guardian of the dead and putrefaction."

"I assure you I do not fill such a role in this day and age," Nephthys chuckled, "But I _have_ heard of the Nannae."

"So you admit you _are_ the goddess!" Sheptilah smirked. "To the arena."

They each made their way back to the ring. Nephthys, despite being a _vulture_ could only glide with the use of her cape and would have to be very protective of her rear unlike the other two Sheptilah took advantage of during the fight.

"Why are you here, really?" The vulture picked up a chunk of ice and bounced it in her palm.

The Overlander sighed deeply. "I am here to atone for the sins of those that came before me and ensure that life continues here on Mobius."

"Noble," the vulture admitted, "But I do not trust you." She tossed the ice ball over her shoulder.

The witch, using magic, lunged forward with great speed and wanted to make quick work of the Mobian woman.

Nephthys was faster and quickly jumped into the air and landed hard on Sheptilah, breaking her shoulder and arm with wet crunches. The witch screamed with intense pain. Orbot and Cubot looked away from the carnage. Eggman himself clutched his arm from the sympathetic pain and Shadow let out a low growl without meaning to.

" _Surrender_." the cloaked woman demanded of the witch. Sheptilah dragged herself forward with her better arm, leaving a trail of pink blood on the ice from the compound fractures.

"Now playing… _Lone Digger_ , Caravan Palace." MARI wasn't one for strictly obeying orders even from Eggman, "Also, _ew_." she commented.

Cassia buried her face in her bag of half-eaten popcorn and Clove was visibly sweating. They had to be the next ones to fight her. There were few left to fight besides the sisters: Tundra and _maybe_ Thunderbolt.

"Heh. I can't surrender." Sheptilah said over her unbroken shoulder. Nephthys walked forward and pressed her foot against the flapping arm. Unwilling tears streamed down Tilly's cheeks.

" _Acquiesce_." The bird woman demanded again, applying more pressure to the injuries. The witch's head was swimming. She nearly passed out from the pain and had a hard time controlling her magic. Her body subconsciously healed itself and every injured nerve began to dull.

"We shouldn't have let her fight without breaks." Shadow spoke through sharp, gritted teeth.

"Get up, Sheptilah!" Tundra howled. "I still haven't fought you yet!" Some other members of the Egg army cheered half-heartedly for the witch and others cheered for Nephthys. Shadow's spines stood on end and all at once flattened when he became calm again.

"Surrender so Cassia doesn't have to fight." Nephthys spoke quietly. She swore she could see _glitter_ form on the wounds and heal them.

"I never intended to fight Cassia," the witch whispered, "Only heal her by 'accident'."

The vulture looked away toward the small crowd where the green pronghorns were sitting and holding each other nervously.

"Great healers, your people were. They lived in a terraced garden ziggurat in my region. The subject of myth." She kicked Sheptilah hard in the chest and sent her sliding across the ice.

The vulture spied the wound protected by the crystal band did not heal.

"I can also see you are weak to _iron_." She knelt down and grabbed the witch's hair and lifted her to her feet. "I don't trust you, Lady Sheptilah. I don't trust anyone who deals with GUN _and_ Eggman's empire. How do I know you are not here to undermine everything Eggman has built up?"

Sheptilah rolled her shoulder which was now fully healed. "I don't like GUN." She was panting and sweaty. "In fact I _hate_ them."

"FINISH HER!" Thunderbolt screamed. "Kill the Overlander!" This was followed by her yelping as Eggman lightly swatted her.

Nephthys' feathers stood on end and then relaxed. "Don't get me wrong. I respect you, I just do not trust you. Your orders to stop all other projects is disrupting my _very_ delicate balances I've put in place in Midesta."

"Thunderbolt told me that you had your face crushed when you were younger; that you had Ivo give you facial cybernetics. Unfortunate that I cannot help you. I think you are my favorite of the Egg Bosses." Sheptilah was deeply regretting challenging them all to battles one after another while only having eaten bits of carrots and apple cookies.

Nephthys let go of the exhausted Overlander's scalp. "I admire your power but you are reckless. Work on that. I will fight you again when you are at full capacity, Lady Sheptilah." She then jumped up and glided back to the seats and walked out of the arena with her cape flapping behind her.

Tilly's face was flushed with embarrassment; was she _really_ that bad a fighter?

"We will continue the fights at a later date. Great work, everyone!" She made her way back to where the good doctor was sitting. He reached over the wall and pulled her up by the wrist and set her down gently next to him.

"You're hard to kill." He chuckled.

"I learned a lot." She forced a smile. Her chest rose and fell with exertion. "Everyone except Mordred is great. I'm happy to be on your team."

Eggman's eyes skimmed her thin, frail figure. _Poor thing is all skin and bones_ , he thought, _and yet_ … He couldn't help but be a _little_ turned on by someone who despite being bloody and sweaty could still smile and walk around like they didn't just have their ass handed to them.

His mind wandered into more erotic territory. A crazy woman who was used to being nude, knows succubi on a personal level and never shaved? She absolutely must be a _demon_ in bed.

It had been quite a while since he was intimate with another person but never really felt urges, either. He was always so busy he never had time for anything other than eating, sleeping and attempts at hedgehog eradication.

 _Doesn't matter,_ he told himself, _I have better stuff to do_ _than risk getting my dick bit off by a shape-shifting witch who doesn't even like me._

"Eggman? Are you listening?" Shadow pulled on his mustache, "Eggman?"

"Woah, sorry; lost in thought." He batted away Shadow's hand.

"Tilly is hungry."

* * *

They didn't stay the night. Everyone packed up and left for their respective bases except for Eggman. He decided to linger a little longer and procrastinate about going out in the snow again.

"Next time maybe consult me before you decide to fight everyone; and don't do it on an empty stomach. Great show, though." He was going through their backpacks one more time before going out.

"Did you know he bet against you?" Thunderbolt was getting into her mecha.

"You bet against me?" Tilly pretended to be shocked. "Well my loss is _your_ loss." Orbot and Cubot came up with thermoses full of piping hot minestrone and handed one to everyone.

" _Mamnoon_ ," she took it, "Thank you." Though when she said it it sounded more like 'sank thyoo'.

"You're getting better!" Orbot chirped. Just then the base shook a little. Shadow was alarmed and looked around.

"Don't panic. I'm pretty sure that's just the staff finally getting the submarine hatch de-iced."

Eggman stroked his mustache. "Fat lot of good it does for us though since I had to park in the boonies…"

Sheptilah sipped from the thermos. A moment passed without any more tremors.

"See?" Eggman grinned at the hedgehog. "Nothing is wrong."

"Fine, let's just go." Shadow was eager to get home.

Eggman opened the gates and a cold gush of air washed over them.

"I'm so glad I do not have nerve endings," Orbot was the first to leave the building for the sled that awaited them. Sheptilah had an uneasy feeling of dread crawl over her. She sipped the thermos nervously and hoped to get back into the submarine as soon as possible.

"Is something wrong?" Eggman noticed the wide-eyed woman's anxious expression.

"I don't know…"

"Maybe you _do_ get motion sick…" Shadow recalled the earlier conversation. "I still have some sour candies if you'd like."

"No, thank you." The woman stared straight ahead.

"You are such a grandpa," Eggman chuckled. "Give me one."

Shadow tossed it at the man, intending for it to hit his temple but instead Eggman caught it with his mouth.

"Eggman?" MARI's voice spoke over the gauntlet. "Eggman. There's something moving beneath you."

"What? MARI! You're being nosy. Go back to being a deejay." He raised a finger threatening to silence the AI.

"Sir, your other robots are in sleep mode and aren't responding. There's something large moving beneath you according to the sled's sensors…" Her voice sounded worried.

"It's probably a _whale_."

Shadow was straining his ears to hear for anything but couldn't tell over the noise of the two adults yelling.

"We gotta get out of here!" Sheptilah dropped the thermos and pounded on the roof of the cab.

The hedgehog chalked it up to her claustrophobia and tried to calm her by rubbing her shoulder.

"MARI- we are almost at the submarine. I'll deal with you later." Eggman growled.

Then came a rumble and a scraping noise much like a freight train struggling to hit the brakes. Eggman instinctively placed his arm across the two smaller beings he was sitting next to. The sled was overturned and rolled across the ice a few times before finally settling right-side up with its robotic reindeer having been destroyed and kicking their legs in the air flaccidly. Thunderbolt's mecha was thrown in the other direction.

"Fuck," Eggman coughed. He wiggled his toes to make sure nothing was broken. "Is everyone alive?"

"Define 'alive'," Shadow groaned. Before Sheptilah could respond the cab started to tilt.

"Time to go." Eggman kicked the glass window free and climbed out. The sound of cracking ice was very subtle, but Shadow heard it clear as a bell. The Overlander reached in and pulled Shadow and Sheptilah out and tossed them onto the ice. Orbot and Cubot, both still in sleep mode, were too far down to be reached and he had to abandon them.

"Go!" Eggman commanded. "If you fall into the water you _will_ die!"

The snow was thick and difficult for Shadow to trudge through and he could not get the leverage to get on top of it to skate away. The ground shook violently and in a great plume of ice and water a witch-eater shot through like a geyser.


	27. Tip Of The Iceberg

The beast threaded in and out of the ice like lightning. It was obvious its goal was to make the ice sheet into more manageable floes so as to leave the group stranded.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow cried. He aimed for the creature but it dodged the sparking bolt of energy by diving.

"Mayday, Mayday!" Eggman screamed into his gauntlet. "A wi-" he was violently cut off by being thrown at least one hundred feet into the air by the creature jettisoning itself from beneath the floe.

"I got you!" Sheptilah ran toward where she estimated he would fall. She caught him with a gust of air and softened his landing by quite a bit, but he was still stuck face-down in the snow with his legs kicking wildly.

A dazed Thunderbolt managed to sit up in her mecha. She then righted it and looked around to see where everyone was. The North Pole this time of year was always very dark with only the thin moonlight and aurora borealis to light the way.

Her mecha, luckily, did have built in floodlights. She activated them and looked around, breathing heavily. She spied rapid motion in the distance and ran toward it.

Sheptilah made an attempt to pull Eggman out of the snow but had difficulty trying to grab him by the ankle. She leaned down and gripped his thigh and trailed her hand up to his boot and pulled with all her might. The sensation of being touched there almost made him stroke out until he realized who it was and what she was doing.

Shadow teleported around the beast and used spin dashes to tear holes in it with little effect. He wanted to preserve his Chaos energy but found that brute force was not going to work with a monster so large.

"Tilly!" Eggman's voice was high-pitched with surprise. "You grabbed my _thigh_!"

"Yes, and?!" She was bewildered by his reaction. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the beams of the mecha lights flash followed by two small missiles whizzing just over her head.

The projectiles hit the creature head-on but caused more noise than it did damage.

"Tundra!" Eggman shouted. "For God's sake where are you?!"

"We're on our way!" The walrus was already getting his handful of troops ready for a rescue.

The creature roared and split itself into two smaller halves, one going for Shadow and the other for Thunderbolt.

The hedgehog teleported and shot a massive wave of Chaos spears at the beasts. Thunderbolt screamed as she shot the one that was aiming directly for her cockpit with alarming speed. At first she believed she made it dissipate but instead it dove down into the ice.

"Chaos spear!" Shadow cried one last time with what little energy he had left as the beast chasing him was hit. The smell of it was acrid. The hedgehog landed in the snow with a crunch and eyed the beasts as they retreated.

"We need to get off the ice." He stated the obvious.

"All the North Pole _is_ is ice!" Eggman was brushing snow out of his hood. The sound of the ice sheets rubbing together was like nails on a chalkboard.

"They followed us here," Sheptilah spoke weakly, "In the water." She picked up Shadow and balanced him against her hip so he wasn't face-deep in the snow. He lightly gripped the neck of her cloak for leverage.

"Or they were hiding out here the whole time." Thunderbolt said as she rubbed the inside of the windshield clear of condensation.

"Shadow, can you teleport us back to the base?" Eggman said.

The hedgehog nodded, "I can try." He inhaled deeply but before the words could come out the ice floe they were on began to tilt downward at an alarming speed. The beast was pushing against the massive chunk of ice hoping to drown them.

They tried to climb up away from the water but the thick coating of fluffy snow acted like an avalanche, forcing them down into pitch black seawater.

Thunderbolt in her mech sank quickly while Eggman struggled to keep from inhaling the water as a reflex from being temperature shocked. Sheptilah, by virtue of being a shapeshifter, gave herself gills on the outside of her throat so she could breathe. So long as she didn't try to speak or breathe with her mouth she wouldn't drown. Eyes glowing to light her way, she propelled herself through the water to find the others.

Eggman allowed his body to float to what he hoped was the surface only to find that he hit solid ice. He attempted some fruitless punches but even with his mutant strength he was unable to crack it without leverage. His head filled with screaming panic when he felt something touch him only to be relieved when he saw those familiar lavender eyes staring at him like headlights on the highway.

She formed an air bubble around his head. He took in deep, greedy breaths and held onto her tightly. Her cloak was heavy when dry but soaking wet it nearly dragged her to the bottom of the sea if she stopped moving.

"I'm going to die of hypothermia," he said between shivers, "If we do not get out of the water immediately." Eggman's lips had already begun to turn blue.

She looked around for Shadow but because of his dark pelt it was nearly impossible to see him.

 _Shadow!_ She called telepathically, _Shadow! Think at me - I'll find you!_

 _Tilly?_ He thought back at her. _Can you hear me?_ It sounded faint in her head. He was either very tired or very far away. She touched her Oracle Stone and pulled out a ball of raw energy and used it as a bright light source. Everything became clear to her: they were not that far from the seafloor as the thick ice sheet had pushed them down when it flipped. Shadow was struggling to pull Thunderbolt's mech free as it was wedged in a thin crevice.

The adrenaline rush was keeping Sheptilah alive and lucid enough to focus. She formed an air bubble around Shadow's head and then punched a hole in the glass of the cockpit, pulling a terrified Thunderbolt free and gave her her own bubble to breathe in.

"Where's the creature?" Shadow held onto the chinchilla's bubble.

 _I don't know_ , the witch's voice spoke.

"Holy fuck, are you a mermaid, too!?" Thunderbolt noticed the gills that looked like knife wounds on the woman's neck.

 _For the last time I am a witch!_

"Tilly…" Eggman's voice started to drawl and his words slurred. "I don't...want to die."

"He's going to die if we don't warm him up soon." The hedgehog gripped her arm. She propelled herself forward where the gap between the ice sheet and ocean floor widened. Sheptilah was heading toward the open ocean.

A current pushed them forward as the witch-eater spiraled toward them from behind. Shadow had enough lingering energy for one _massive_ Chaos Spear, but it would drain him to use it. He let go of Thunderbolt's bubble and waited for the beast to get up close enough so he couldn't miss.

"Chaos spear!" he said, throwing the massive bolt of energy like Zeus throwing lightning. The creature let out an ear-splitting howl before dissipating into nothingness. The shine from the spear was painfully blinding. They did not see that a few witch-eaters had split off the main amalgamation and fled.

Shadow was exhausted from using up the bulk of his Chaos energy and being submerged in the freezing cold water. Sheptilah was now becoming extremely uncomfortable in the water due to both people she was bonded to actively dying.

 _Please hang on_ , she spoke to them as well as herself, _we're gonna be alright._ Her vision blurred and she felt like she was struggling to stay awake. _Please_.

Her conscious self fell to the wayside and her Oracle Stone took over. It tracked the nearest form of life it could find: ringed seals. The small mammals were miles away but the stone warped to them nearly instantly; something Sheptilah herself didn't know how to do.

The curious and somewhat doofy creatures swam along calmly, digging their snouts in the sand and disappearing into the ice.

The witch's body followed the seals and saw they were going up into a cave. Unlike typical seal lairs this one was a naturally occurring cave and it was _huge_. The walls and floor of the cave looked like sea waves frozen in time except for parts worn smooth by the seals dragging their fat bellies across it. It was almost too dark to see.

The witch pulled her team through the opening and pushed them away from the edge. The frightened seals flopped away from the intruders, their barks of displeasure echoing off the walls. She immediately dried them all off by instantly evaporating the water, leaving a thin salty film on everyone but Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt was the only conscious one. She ran to Eggman and frantically checked for a heartbeat. It was _thready_ , but it was there.

"Help him," she begged, "He's dying."

 _I know_ , Sheptilah responded. She approached Eggman and pressed her bone-white hands to his cheeks and brushed the salt flakes away. She hummed quietly and repaired the damage done to him by the cold. She then turned to Shadow and was pleased to see he didn't need healing and was just very, very tired.

The Oracle Stone rescinded bodily and conscious control back to the witch.

"How…" She felt the fur of her cloak and was surprised that it was dry. "I…"

"Where am I?" Eggman's voice sounded hoarse. "Thunderbolt?"

The chinchilla hugged his head and rubbed her cheek against his ear. "I'll keep you warm!"

"If you had a twin I could make a decent pair of earmuffs from you. Have you sit on my shoulders and hug my head." He mused.

"I must get bigger so I can hug your whole head!" She was determined to be perfect for him.

"I try not to curse as it is rude but… _fuck._ " Shadow's entire body ached. Laying on the ice helped to ease it a little.

"You're allowed to say fuck." Tilly spat salt out of her mouth.

" _Fuck!_ " He groaned. Using up stored Chaos Energy was painful. Normally he had no issue with using the power lent by the stones but when so far from a Chaos Emerald things were much more difficult.

"Are you hurt? I can help you." Tilly felt around for where he was.

"Conserve your energy for now." The hedgehog warned.

Some of the more brave and curious seals slowly approached the strange group of visitors. Shadow looked around and was upset to see his bag was missing. He became panicked when he realized _nobody_ had their packs anymore.

"How did… we get here?" Tilly looked to Thunderbolt.

"That rock on your chest brought us here. I have no idea where _here_ is though, because it teleported us."

"I can teleport to unseen distances?" She shook her head. "I have no idea. I have no memory of it. I'm also very tired..."

"Why wouldn't it just teleport us somewhere else? Like the base?" Shadow's breath was shaky.

Sheptilah shook her head.

Eggman sat up causing Thunderbolt to lose her grip and flop onto the ice. He looked at his gauntlet and brought up a map. The ice was too thick for the gauntlet's GPS to show where they were.

"Tundra is never going to find us…" He sighed. "But if we find another way out of this cave we may be able to send out a distress signal." The screen of his gauntlet was fogged over from the cold.

Tilly moved over to the hedgehog, placed his head in her lap and stroked his cheeks comfortingly. Normally he would be annoyed with being touched like that but was too tired to argue.

"Thank you for saving us, Shadow," Tilly said.

The hedgehog closed his eyes and exhaled. "Sure thing." He then looked over at Eggman when he heard the Overlander thumping his palm against the gauntlet.

"Doctor… your eyes." Shadow said with concern.

Ivo felt his face and realized his glasses were missing and felt extremely self-conscious.

"They were always like this." He finally said.

"I love them," Thunderbolt chirped, "So devious!"

One of the smaller seals flopped up to Shadow, curiously sniffed him and then laid itself across his legs. Another came up to Sheptilah and tugged on her cloak with its mouth.

" _Hi_ ," Shadow sounded annoyed, "Can I help you?"

"Aren't you cute?" Eggman lightly pat one as it scooted by.

"Back off, back off!" Thunderbolt was tackled by one that wanted attention. One by one more of the herd emerged from what appeared to be a tunnel hidden behind an outcrop of ice.

"They're so fat!" Tilly was enamored and pet one. She was surprised to see that they felt like they were covered in wet dog fur and not soft like velvet. Ringed seals never grew bigger than the length of a labrador retriever so even the biggest of them was pretty small and endearing. Their wide, glassy eyes and kitten-like snouts betrayed their sharp, flame-shaped teeth hiding in their mouths.

"Are they stealing our body heat?" Eggman was a little irritated by their wet noses rubbing his face. He gently pushed it aside and it showed its displeasure by slapping its belly.

"We should get moving." Thunderbolt said. "We'll freeze to death if we don't."

"I saw the seals come out from behind some ice over there." The woman pointed.

"Then let's go." Eggman stood and stretched, his spine cracking.

"I don't think Shadow can move," Tilly frowned, "And not because a seal parked itself on him."

Shadow sat up defiantly and gently nudged the seal off of his legs. He then stood and took a few shaky steps. "I'm fine." Through gritted teeth he trudged a few feet before falling over.

The witch sighed and scooped up Shadow in her arms. She supported him with one arm and buttoned the cloak around him with the other, essentially making a papoose for him to nestle in.

"Like a little baby," she shook her head to brush some of his spines out of her face, "With built-in pricklies."

"Baby Mobian hedgehogs don't have 'pricklies'." He corrected her, yawning broadly as he did so. "I shouldn't be this tired." He rested his chin on her shoulder.

"I think it's the cold too; not just you using up your power." She had a good grip on him so he wouldn't slip. He limply wrapped his arms around her neck.

"Thunderbolt? Some light, please." Eggman looked down at her.

The chinchilla jumped up and activated her cybernetics so that it would give off enough illumination to comfortably see by. Eggman bent down and picked her up so that the light was at the Overlanders' eye level. Was he _finally_ coming around to her? Her tiny rodent mind raced with the romantic possibilities.

The Overlanders, each with a Mobian in tow, made their way past the chunk of ice blocking the view of a natural path through the glacier.

"Next time I _will_ bring a Chaos Emerald with me." Shadow was falling asleep.

"At least you have a cute lady to carry you," Eggman quipped, "I know for a fact you all would leave my bloated corpse behind with Thunderbolt fruitlessly trying to drag me across the ice."

"What? Of course not," Sheptilah furrowed her brows, "We'd _eat_ you."

* * *

They wandered in the cave paths for hours. The only sounds were their echoing footsteps on the crunchy ice until Eggman led them to a massive cave where floor was coated in dry sand.

"Did you know that hedgehogs are likely to go into a kind of hibernation in the cold?" Eggman broke the silence.

"No, I didn't. We didn't have hedgehogs where I'm from. Most of the Mobians were pangolins, armadillos or hamsters. Typical desert animals, you know?" Sheptilah whispered so she wouldn't wake the sleeping hedgehog or cause a cave-in.

"There are desert hedgehogs;" he cocked a brow, "So you've never seen one before? That sounds like paradise."

"I guess I have not seen one, no." She shrugged.

"You can't open a portal here, can you?" Eggman kept his voice equally low. Shadow's ears twitched when the Overlanders spoke but he remained asleep. Occasionally he nuzzled his face into her collar, tickling her neck with his soft breathing.

"No. Without people coming and going there won't be many, if any, knots in the Universe I can pull open."

"It's obvious nobody has been here for thousands of years." Thunderbolt said.

"Great acoustics, though." Eggman cleared his throat. " _Oh, what will the signal be for your eyes to see me?_ " His deep voice singing the lyrics to _Send Love Through_ echoed off the walls of the cavern beautifully. Shadow's ears twitched but he didn't wake up.

Thunderbolt looked up at him and gasped softly. Who knew he could _sing_?

" _Watching offside as I wait just in case you need me_." He grinned. "With the right acoustics anyone can sound good.

"What song was that?" Thunderbolt said.

"Old Blondie song." He explained. "Really old."

"We should keep moving." Sheptilah adjusted her grip on her familiar. "I'm starting to fall asleep, too."

"Alright. Let's go." He began walking again and held up Thunderbolt like a flashlight when he picked up the faint smell of wood.

"Do you smell that?" He asked the witch. She shook her head. "Thunderbolt; turn up the wattage."

The chinchilla obliged and the cave brightened quite a bit. In the distance the image of a very old scuttled ship took shape. It was an explorer's vessel from at least two hundred years prior made entirely out of wood. The air around it smelled stale and earthy.

Painted on the hull was the ship's name: _HIRMS_ _Цветущий снег_.

"His Imperial Royal Ship _Blossoming Snow?_ " Sheptilah could read the Russian because it was hand-painted onto the hull.

"I'm not sure," Eggman cautiously approached the boat, "But I can guarantee you there are bodies in here."


	28. Rebound

"Like skeletons?" Sheptilah sounded hopeful that things wouldn't get too gorey. Thunderbolt shook her head.

"Expeditions to the great north from _this_ long ago often ended in tragedy. When people die out in these conditions their bodies mummify in the cold. The corpses are going to look somewhat fresh." The chinchilla explained.

"My concern is any lurking viruses and bacteria that may be hiding out on these corpses."

Eggman hesitantly approached the hull and knocked on it with his knuckle. It sounded solid and sturdy.

"What are viruses and bacteria?" Sheptilah asked.

"Microscopic things that make you sick." Eggman explained it as succinctly as possible.

"I will heal you if you get sick," the witch sighed, "You know that."

"You're exhausted; we'll build a fire and camp out for the night. Stay out here with him. Thunderbolt and I will explore the ship's deck for supplies, and _only_ the deck."

"Wait, out here? In the _dark_?" She was terrified of being in that level of blackness after having suffered it for five millennia.

"You're an adult; you can handle it." Eggman shrugged off her anxiety and made his way to some chunks of ice that would allow him to reach the deck. Sheptilah held the sleeping hedgehog even tighter.

"Why don't you want me to go with you?" She sounded terrified.

"Tilly, just _stay_ there." He said forcefully. He then landed with a heavy thump on the deck. With the faint light of Thunderbolt's cybernetics the two looked like a ghost wandering the vessel aimlessly.

 _Why is he treating me this way?_ She asked herself.

Eggman walked around the deck looking for supplies they could salvage and for wood to burn. The ship was in a shambles and the planks creaked underfoot. The chinchilla was grinning ear-to-ear because lord Eggman decided he wanted to spend this time alone with _her._

He took another tentative step forward, slowly putting his foot down on the brittle deck. The ship groaned as if it was in pain. His mustache bristled as every hair on his body, which was mostly concentrated to his back, stood on end.

He froze in place for a moment and then relaxed when nothing happened. He chuckled softly to himself with relief.

Then there was a snap.

* * *

Tundra and Akhlut, with a handful of Egg militia in tow, rode their snowmobiles to the last known location of the sled. When they found that it was under the ice they immediately drilled a hole into it and sent the orca into it to rescue Orbot and Cubot who were still in sleep mode.

"There's no sign of Eggman, Sheptilah or Shadow down there except for _this_." Akhlut tossed Shadow's waterlogged bag onto the ice along with the two robots still in their compacted forms.

"Any blood or torn clothes?" Tundra was punching info into his handheld computer. Although his sense of smell was acute it became useless underwater and thus the scent trail ended where they stood.

"No, but the windshield is broken and Thunderbolt's mecha is empty." Akhlut said. "I'm going to keep searching in the water. You search above the ice." The orca disappeared back into the sea before Tundra could punch the damned dolphin in the face for daring to tell _him_ what to do.

* * *

"Shadow? Shadow, wake up." Sheptilah nudged her nose against his cheek. The hedgehog groaned and rubbed his face with his hand.

"What?" He sounded like he was still half-asleep. He nestled back into the crook of her neck intending to resume his nap.

"You're very cute but I would like to put you down now."

"I'm not _cute_." He squinted in the pitch blackness.

"You're _very_ cute and you are very heavy for someone who looks like they should weigh as much as a loaf of bread."

"Stop saying I'm cute." Shadow the Hedgehog is a seventy-seven pound war machine and he demanded to be treated as such. "Yes you may put me down."

"Fine, fine. You're _not_ cute," she unbuttoned the cloak with one hand and let Shadow jump to the ground, "You sleep like the dead."

"Where's Thunderbolt and Eggman?"

Sheptilah closed the cloak and crouched down. She closed her palms together and slowly pulled them apart, creating a smoky wisp of light.

"He went off with Thunderbolt to explore the ship we found." She stood up straight and rolled the wisp around in her palm to make it grow to the size of a basketball.

The cave was now illuminated bright enough that she could see several yards away.

"An old exploration vessel," Shadow knocked on the wooden hull with his knuckles, " _Really_ old."

"Ivo says there's bodies in there."

"He's probably right but why did he leave us behind?"

Sheptilah shrugged. "I've got no idea."

The brittle planks gave way under Eggman with a loud snap and he tumbled down with a loud crash into the bowels of the ship.

The mummified, freeze-dried corpse of a human fell on top of him. Eggman screamed with horror. The body was hard and heavy - the face was pulled back in a grotesque grimace with disgusting stained teeth bared as if the person died laughing. Tiny beady black eyes like marbles stuck into the sockets stared blankly ahead.

Thunderbolt, equally terrified, instinctively unleashed a sharp bolt of electricity that shocked Eggman to within an inch of his life.

The surge made the witch's hair stand on end.

"Eggman!" Sheptilah called. She ran off with Shadow on her heels and the wisp following behind her lighting the path. With the aid of magic she hopped up on the piles of ice and quickly bounced to the deck of the ship. Shadow was able to keep up with her but still felt the exhaustive effects of having drained most of his energy earlier.

She kneeled over the edge of the hole he fell into and peered in, the bright light hovering behind her like a halo.

"Sheptilah?" Eggman looked up and saw her.

"Whatever happened to you just now is something you deserve; every bit of it!" She shouted with annoyance into the pit. Shadow put his hands on his hips and leaned forward.

"Are you hurt?" The hedgehog asked.

Eggman looked around and saw he was nearly impaled on a sharp chunk of wood that was sticking up by his armpit.

"No," he coughed, "Except when Thunderbolt electrocuted me into the next century."

"Ow." Thunderbolt sat up. Shadow jumped in and pulled the corpse off of Eggman. Sheptilah floated down, her wisp following and lit up the messy deck.

"I'm so sorry, my lord!" Thunderbolt apologized profusely.

Eggman stood and brushed himself off. "Thank you for asking, Shadow."

Sheptilah went up to the corpse and looked it over with an unimpressed expression. "Sometimes we were mummified by baking in the sand. It looked like this, but we took the eyes out first and glued the lids shut."

"I'm gonna be sick." Eggman was a mess.

"I wonder what killed them?" The witch said to me.

"Is anybody worried about _me_?" Ivo smoothed out his mustache.

"I am!" The chinchilla was quick to answer.

"Please don't touch the corpses, Sheptilah." Shadow was grossed out by her careless handling of it.

"I'm just wondering if whatever killed them could kill us." She backed up from the corpse and took a look around. They were in a kitchen. She spotted a small hanging iron pot and went over to it. She picked up a piece of wood, carefully lifted the heavy lid with it and peered inside.

"They probably died of starvation." Eggman felt dizzy and stumbled a bit when he walked around.

"Cannibalism," the witch said, "Human hand and neck bones in an empty pot? They clearly were resorting to cannibalism. They _did_ starve to death. We should keep looking around."

"I want off. I don't want to fall through the floor again." Ivo was anxious and hyper aware of every little creak the ship was making.

Sheptilah let the lid slam shut. Eggman jumped at the noise.

" _You_ can go if you want; but then _you'd_ be all alone in the dark." The witch was clearly bitter about being left behind.

"I'll stick around." He quickly changed his mind. "Look for oil or alcohol... something to make the wood burn more easily."

"We're camping out here?" The hedgehog was hesitant to stay in one place.

"Sure, outside the ship on the sand. You slept all this time so you don't get to be picky." Thunderbolt was peeved at the whole situation.

Sheptilah continued to poke around in drawers and cabinets but found nothing of any real use. They explored the ship further, each going their own way but not straying too far from the wisp giving off light. Shadow opened a closet and found a human corpse hung by the neck: a clear suicide. The gruesome image made his quills stand on end. He gently shut the door and propped a plank of wood under the doorknob so it couldn't open from the inside. _Just in case_.

"I found something," Sheptilah was holding an old notebook, "Captain's log." It was written in a shorthand form of Cyrillic. The script started off neat but became excruciatingly sloppy toward the end. They were deep in the bowels of the ship and knew they wouldn't find anything else.

"What's it say?" Eggman was curious.

"Let's build that fire first, then I'll read it to you." Sheptilah tucked it under her arm.

"How are we getting out?" Thunderbolt was holding onto Eggman's leg.

Eggman ran his hand against the ship's wall. He took a step back and punched a hole directly into the side. Wood splintered and landed softly in the sand directly below. Sheptilah and Shadow exchanged unnerved glances.

"So strong." Thunderbolt's voice sounded dreamy.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that despite having my head caved in just days prior." Sheptilah spat.

Eggman looked back over his shoulder and frowned, "I told you it was an accident."

"How do you _accidentally_ crack open someone's skull?" Shadow said.

Ivo didn't answer the question. He stepped down from the newly created porthole onto the sand and waited for them to follow him.

Tundra immediately called for a helicopter to pick him up. He instructed a few underlings to follow on the ground while he flew overhead. They found nothing.

Akhlut was right at home in the frigid water. The darkness made it hard for him to see so he shut his eyes and relied exclusively on echolocation. After several minutes of picking up nothing he was able to locate the same herd of seals that Sheptilah had found only two miles away.

He communicated with them telepathically to find out if they had seen anything. To his relief they were able to point him in the right direction. The seals remembered them as 'nice warm strangers that scratched our heads that disappeared behind the ice.'

The group built a fire in the sand a good distance from the ship using the planks Eggman punched out earlier. Sheptilah sat with Shadow across from Eggman and Thunderbolt with the fire crackling between them like a protective barrier. She dissipated the wisp she created earlier and began reading the captain's log by the firelight.

"Still nothing?" Eggman asked the hedgehog who was fiddling with his communicator.

"Dead air. Could've been damaged in the fight but it's most likely all the ice." He was falling asleep again. He silently cursed himself for being so reckless; _that was the witch's job._

"I'm so hungry I could eat Axel." Thunderbolt sighed.

"That'd be impressive seeing as how I'm sure he's had shits bigger than you," Eggman laughed.

"I'm not that little!" The chinchilla whined.

"How was it you described yourself? Compact? Lightweight and built for travel?" He grinned at her. He loved teasing his underlings. Sheptilah stood, walked to Eggman and crouched in front of him. She stared directly into his eyes for a moment, unblinking.

" _What?_ What do you want?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Prove to me it was an accident." She was angry and there was hurt in her voice.

"How? I _already_ told you it was an a-" He was interrupted by Sheptilah gripping his shoulders and pressing her forehead to his.

She forced his to share his memory of the incident while it was still fresh in his mind. It was from Ivo's perspective. She saw her own figure staring at the ocean and felt his emotions. She perceived the thought he had of strangling her at that moment and throwing her lifeless body into the sea. She saw Eggman gripping her throat and understood that he had no real intention to hurt her- only scare her.

Eggman was hesitant to reach out and grab the witch. He knew it was risky to even approach her but he was not going to lose his life's work to some random woman. He understood her frailty when his thumb could touch his fingertips when wrapped around her throat. She was so small, underfed and _weak_. He could kill her with the same effort of opening a bottle of soda.

How could a queen be so _skinny?_ Why was she such a waif? _Damned vegetarians. Real queens should be strong._ She reminded him of the smallest matryoshka doll in a set his mother had when he was a child. Each one smaller than the last and painted with great detail by a skilled hand.

"Don't be so heavy-handed," his mother would scold him, "You'll crush the hollow dolls."

 _You'll crush the doll._ He was caught between anger and pity. Somewhere inside he wanted to nestle her in a sHell and then another to keep her from breaking. He couldn't risk her getting hurt since it hurt him, too. _Shells._

She hooked her finger into the collar of her sweatshirt and tempted him to grab the Oracle Stone. He didn't look down at her chest though he knew she wasn't wearing any underwear beneath the GUN scrubs. Now was not the time for distractions.

Then came the stabbing. His guts erupted in flame and, without meaning to, he threw the witch down. The sickening, wet crack the sound of her skull breaking against the rock brought him back to his senses almost instantly.

He was on his knees gasping for air. He looked at the woman and regretted everything. The moon's destruction, waking her up, killing her. He regretted _everything_. Panic swept over him.

The pathetic sounds she made as she struggled to breathe since she punctured her own lungs. Frothy blood bubbled up from her wounds. Her face was misshapen and bloody. He never hurt anyone with his own hands so badly in all his life.

 _I've killed her,_ he gritted his teeth, _I fucked up!_

What amazing cruelties people can inflict upon one another without meaning to.

"S-Sheptilah?" His head started to ache. He tried to crawl forward but was too shaky. The bitter taste of hot copper welled up in his throat. For the second time that week he was drowning in her blood.

It was then that her body began to heal itself. The smallest matryoshka doll was always the hardest to break because it is _solid._

Sheptilah broke the mental bond by pulling back. It had only lasted a second but it felt like eternity for the two of them. She had tears pouring from her eyes. It was unclear if she was crying her own or Eggman's.

 _Our actions have consequences._

"It _was_ an accident." Her voice wavered.

"What was _that_?" Eggman swallowed hard.

"Memory sharing." She hung her head. "I saw everything from your perspective exactly as it happened. _Everything_."

Thunderbolt was grinding her teeth. _How dare she get so cozy with him!_

"I should've never attacked you." She blamed herself for everything. She dried her stinging eyes with her fists.

"I never should've threatened to _kill_ you." He admitted. "You were defending yourself."

She slowly leaned in and embraced him in a tight hug. He held his hands out at first but after a moment he returned the gesture, holding her chastely.

"We can't end up like the people on _Blossoming Snow_." She buried her face in his shoulder. "They killed themselves and each other. The diary talked all about it."

Real human contact. It had been years since another person touched him without it being an assault.

"Chalk it up to the language barrier," Eggman chuckled nervously, "We'll call it even and start fresh."

She sighed softly as the weight on her heart lifted. Everything was back to normal.

"Alright, alright, break it up!" Thunderbolt kicked sand toward Sheptilah. "Paws off!"

The woman let go of Eggman and turned to Thunderbolt, smiling like a cat. "Are you _jealous?_ "

" _Jealous!?_ "

"You are!" Tilly pointed accusingly at the ever-reddening chinchilla. "Thunderbolt is jealous of our _bond_ , Ivo." She said sing-song.

"I think you have manhandled Lord Eggman enough, that's all!"

"Miss Thunderbolt, would it make you feel better to know I prefer women?"

"What?" The chinchilla squinted at her.

"I'm not that picky but I _really_ like women more than I like other genders."

A pause.

Thunderbolt frowned. She was trying to calculate how much 'really like' actually meant.

"Ugh, for heaven's sake." Shadow sucked air through his teeth. "Thunderbolt. Sheptilah is _Sapphic_."

"I _get_ that, you idiot," Thunderbolt's tail stood straight out, "She said she prefers women. It means there's still a chance she has disgusting ulterior motives with Lord Eggman! He is one _Hell_ of a male specimen; it's to be expected." She brushed nonexistent dust off of her shoulders. "I'm trying to _protect_ him."

"From hugs, T.B.?" Eggman joked. "You really think banana-butt over here is going to try to seduce me or something?"

"Oh, Ivo," Sheptilah said dramatically draping her arm across her forehead, "It's that mug in your office with your face on it. I must have it or I'll die. I'll do _anything_ to have it."

" _Right here?_ With the dead bodies?" Eggman played along. "Won't you get cold?"

"Not if you do it right."

She and Eggman burst into laughter. Thunderbolt sat with her arms crossed and her face sour.

"I'm going to be sick." Shadow threw some more sticks into the fire.

"Alright, alright." Eggman picked up Thunderbolt by the back of her coat and rested her inside his hood. "Enough joking around, we need to recuperate."

The chinchilla sighed contentedly, nestling her soft cheek against Eggman's.

Sheptilah laid on her side and beckoned Shadow to join.

"I'm good." The hedgehog refused. "Someone has to keep watch."

"Shadow," Tilly frowned, "There's nothing here. Come on, I'm not sleeping." She scooted over to give him room.

He looked at her for a moment before shaking his head. She instead got up and went to him, sitting behind him and draping her cloak over him. She held him close and nuzzled his face with hers. The warmth between the two soothed his small, aching body.

Tilly brought up her hand and gently stroked Shadow's head to help him relax. Shadow focused on the fire, watching the orange flames flicker.

The only sound was their quiet breathing and the crackling of the fire.

After an hour of silence Sheptilah leaned down to kiss the top of Shadow's head. He did not object to this gesture and the tiniest of contented smiles appeared on his lips unseen. He felt like he did when he was a hoglet in Maria's arms aboard the ARK. He felt like he was home.

"Hello?" Akhlut's tired voice called from far away. "Lord Eggman?"

He sat up, letting Thunderbolt tumble out. "Akhlut?"

"Sir!" The orca rounded the corner. "Finally!"


	29. Gimme Sympathy

"How'd you sleep?" Tails was checking his messages on his laptop while everyone else was eating lunch.

Sonic chuckled. "Just fine. Thanks, guys."

"Of course!" Amy smiled behind her cup of juice.

Sonic's phone beeped. It was a text from Rouge.

"My babies!" Eggman shouted gleefully at Orbot and Cubot. They were reunited at the submarine. The robots immediately floated up to him and hugged him.

"We slept through the whole thing!" Orbot said.

"Boss! I'm so glad you're okay! I was worried we'd be homeless and overlord-less." Cubot frowned.

Tundra handed Eggman the soaking wet messenger bag that was found in the wreckage. The bag itself had begun to ice over in the cold. Eggman held it for a moment and then passed it off its rightful owner, Shadow.

"Thank you again, Tundra and Akhlut. Please continue to keep the poles safe. As you know the witch-eaters attacked us from under the ice. They also most likely followed our submarine when we were coming here." _Maybe_ that's _what scared the whales away,_ she thought.

"While in the air I saw no other evidence of them," the walrus spoke, "No tracks or broken ice."

"Can I ask you for a favor?" Sheptilah hesitantly tapped Eggman on the shoulder to get his attention.

"That depends," he flashed a crooked smile, "What is it you want?"

"Can we _not_ take the submarine? If those beasts are still in the water I would prefer to not be stuffed in the can." She pouted.

"We don't have an airship for you at the moment." Tundra shook his head.

"I have an idea," Shadow held the communicator in his glove up to his mouth. "Rouge? Text the following to Sonic for me."

* * *

 **[WhiteEcho]** Shadow wants you to summon the witch

 **[BlueBlrr91]** why

 **[BlueBlrr91]** dont you have a stone

 **[WhiteEcho]** IDK he just asks you do it

 **[BlueBlrr91]** okay?

"I'll be right back, guys." Sonic stepped outside and fished the witch orb out from his sock.

* * *

Sheptilah turned to an annoyed looking Akhlut and Tundra. "You're going to witness something cool."

It was a moment before she was summoned. Her body fizzled away like desert mirage.

"Wait!" Eggman said. "What just happened?"

"Sonic summoned her." Shadow shrugged.

"He _summoned_ her?" Eggman was bewildered.

Something was miscalculated and again she was teleported high up in the air but was able to right herself. She landed gracefully in the sand, took off the heavy cloak and immediately started feeling around the air for knots.

"Come on, come on…" She muttered to herself.

"Uh, what's up?" Sonic scratched his quills in confusion. "And what the heck are you wearing?"

"Looking for a space… aha!" She pulled open a portal to the arctic circle as wide as it would go. Having to _create_ a snag that far away instead of just opening up an old one nearby was an uphill battle.

"Alright, everyone off the North Pole!" Sheptilah stuck her arm through and pulled Shadow to the beach. Thunderbolt gratefully followed afterward. No more drowning in soft, powdery snow for the two little Mobians. Cold air blasted Sonic in the face but it felt nice.

" _All this time you could make portals?_ " Akhlut was frustrated. He wandered in ice caves for hours only to find out all this time she could _teleport?_

"Yes but it isn't as easy as it looks. There's all kinds of nonsense involved in getting one open. You really _did_ need to rescue us." The woman shrugged innocently.

"But my submarine!" Eggman whined.

"You're welcome to drive the ten hours to get back to your lair by yourself." Shadow huffed.

Without a moment's thought Eggman stepped through the portal with his robots following suit. Sheptilah waved goodbye to Tundra and Akhlut and closed the portal. Thunderbolt, Eggman and Shadow all peeled off their winter boots and coats. The weather was sunny and mild, a very welcome change from the cold, dark north.

"Yay, the Overlanders are back." Tails said sarcastically. "What the heck are you wearing, Sheptilah?" He walked up to Sonic and stood beside him. Amy, Sticks and Knuckles approached them soon after.

She looked down at herself and realized she was still in her Egg Boss uniform, sans the tiara which was lost in the watery scuffle.

"I would like to introduce you to this island's Egg Boss." Eggman broadly gestured toward the woman, smiling menacingly.

"I _told_ you she couldn't be trusted!" Sticks picked up a small rock and chucked it at Sheptilah.

The witch yelped and just barely moved out of the way in time. The badger snarled and sprinted at the woman on all fours. Sheptilah turned and booked it, wishing she pulled off her boots before doing this.

"Tell them the truth, Eggman!" The witch shouted.

"That _is_ the truth!" He responded.

Shadow was too tired to interfere and knew that Sticks couldn't do too much damage to the Overlander.

"Get back here!" The badger continued to give chase. Sheptilah initially made her way toward the ocean but stopped at the shoreline when she remembered the witch-eaters and turned. She fled to the nearest coconut tree and shuffled her way up to the top.

"Sticks!" Amy scolded her.

"She's not _really_ an Egg Boss," Ivo admitted, "I just wanted the other Egg Bosses to think she is."

The coconut tree was at least fifty feet tall and Sheptilah was all the way at the top. The witch pulled off a snow boot and threw it at the badger, purposefully missing her. Sticks got halfway up the tree before she heard that the woman wasn't _really_ a Boss.

"So she's a spy?" Sticks narrowed her eyes at Eggman.

"A spy? No I am just manipulating them into helping me stop the threat. I don't trust GUN alone to help."

"Hm," Sticks thought for a moment, "I can respect anyone who undermines government entities; especially two at once." She jumped down from the tree and made her way back to the group.

"Hey, Shads." Sonic chuckled. "So why are you hanging out with Eggman?"

"GUN business." The black hedgehog said curtly.

"Hmph." Sonic wanted more details than that. Sheptilah also made her way down the tree, straightened her coat and rejoined the group. She opened a portal so Shadow could return to the GUN fortress. He gratefully stepped through and bid her goodbye. She closed the portal and then turned to the Mobians.

"We have to stay out of the water." Her face was grim.

"You don't have to tell me twice." The blue hedgehog dug his toe into the sand.

"We were attacked by a _massive_ beast up at the pole. It tried to kill all of us by trapping us under the ice. I think it followed us in the water up there." She let her hair out of the ponytail.

"Do you have a sample of the monster?" Tails approached the witch. "I can do a search for organisms like it."

Sheptilah shook her head. "Sorry, Tails. There was nothing to collect. It vanished as quickly as it arrived. It had to be at least sixty of them stuck together as one. Shadow was the one who managed to blow it apart with Chaos energy."

"We need the Chaos Emeralds. GUN has two of them, the other five are still out there." Eggman scratched his chin.

"What good would _that_ do? We'd have to find all of the beasts, right?" Thunderbolt's tail twitched. "Or make them gather in one place so that the effort to collect all of them isn't wasted since they just scatter again after use."

The sound of the ocean lapping against the shoreline felt louder and harsher to all of them. "Come into my shack; we'll discuss it there." Sonic turned to go back into his house.

"Wait," Sheptilah hesitated, "We need to rest first. We'll come back later."

"Are you sure?" Amy tilted her head.

"She's right, we haven't slept in over a day." Shadow huffed.

"We should also have Shadow and Rouge here when we discuss it. We'll come back tonight." She opened one last portal to the lair after picking up her cloak. Thunderbolt, Eggman and his robots stepped through after Sheptilah. The portal zipped shut.

Sonic looked and saw some young children playing in the sand near the water with their mother.

 _It's always something._


	30. Fall Into You

The ziggurat was a lush and green paradise. Terraced farms were ripe with fruits and vegetables. Cold, blue water flowed from the top all the way down the sides, cascading over smooth white stone and disappearing into the base of the building.

A soft zephyr blew through Sheptilah's hair. She sat cross-legged at the very top, looking out at the glittering desert vista warbling in the heat.

There was no noise, not even from the running water.

The sky was devoid of clouds and although it was bright there was no visible sun.

She sighed quietly and just stared unblinking into the distance.

"Sheptilah?" Eggman's familiar voice whispered behind her.

"Ugh," she looked over her shoulder at him. "I was hoping you wouldn't be able to dreamwalk."

"What is this?" He tried to step forward but his legs felt cemented in place.

"We're both asleep and you are in my dream." She turned back to the empty desert, "Congratulations on your first astral projection."

"What?" Eggman wasn't sure if it was his own dream or not.

"Our bond."

"What… about it?"

"It's grown strong enough in these last few weeks that now you are able to dream walk. You're in my brain." She stood and turned to him. She was dressed in a long, black cotton sarong tied at the breast. The fabric had golden thread embroidered in a filigree pattern at the hems. "Watch your step."

"I don't want to be here." He looked around uncomfortably. It was hard for his vision to focus on any one detail. With a wave of her arm, Sheptilah made everything disappear. They were now standing in total blackness.

 _Wake up, Ivo. You shouldn't be here._ Her voice whispered.

Eggman opened his eyes and saw he was in his bed. He remembered everything he saw clearly and lucidly.

He sat up and looked at the time on his digital clock: he'd been asleep for three hours. It was only a nap but it felt like he was blacked out for days.

Sheptilah was standing over him with her arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. At some point she switched out of her uniform back into her old top and sarong. Eggman opened his mouth to say something but she waved her hand and pointed to Thunderbolt, curled up at the foot of the bed. She had initially fallen asleep on the sofa with Sheptilah but wormed her way into his room.

She motioned for Eggman to follow her but to stay quiet. He hesitated at first but with a nod followed her out of the room. She was very hungry and made her way to the kitchen. Sheptilah pawed through the refrigerator and took out a whole head of lettuce; there wasn't much else in there that wasn't meat.

"Are you… angry?" Eggman spoke quietly.

"No," she nodded toward the door, "Follow me." She took him to the pool in the lowest level of his lair. The humidity and the smell of chlorine became stronger as they descended the stairwell.

"I have an elevator." He reminded her.

"I have a phobia." She responded. The pool room was huge and well-lit for an area without windows. There were many beach chairs despite the fact that Eggman never threw any pool parties. Huge fake palm trees towered over them. Upon closer inspection the coconuts were actually speakers.

"Why'd you bring me down here?"

"Chinchillas don't like water and I don't want Thunderbolt bothering us." She peeled a leaf off the lettuce and munched on it. "I gotta teach you how to ground yourself so you don't kill us both when dreamwalking."

"Is that like astral projection?" He stroked his mustache between his fingers. Sheptilah made herself comfortable and stretched out on one of the lounge chairs.

"Yes, but we're only in each other's brains. That's how I knew to come down here. I learned you had a pool in that brief time you spent on my plane." She beckoned for him to sit next to her. He did so after unzipping his shirt a bit.

"I don't want you in my head." Ivo adjusted his glasses.

"And I don't want you in mine," she munched on more leaves, "But that's not an option anymore."

The chewing noises were getting on his nerves. "You're never going to get to a healthy weight if you eat like that. Carrots and lettuce? I think you're so malnourished your stone is the only thing keeping you alive."

"I'm used to not eating much." She shrugged nonchalantly.

"You're a queen. Why are you used to starvation?"

"It's important your people eat before you do," she pointed at him, "But you probably wouldn't know that seeing as how most of _your_ people are golems."

"As long as we're forced to be together you must take care of yourself."

"It's cute how your soft side peeks out from that cruel exterior. I saw how you put your arm over us when we crashed; and now you're yelling at me about my health."

"What? That's a reflex." He crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air.

"I saw some of what the ziggurat showed you, that red haired woman and two little girls? I guess it was tapping into your greatest desires in order to keep you placated. It was afraid of your mental prowess. It tried to take us all down separately but even that didn't work. I saw you defeated the specter right away." Tilly smirked. "You have a thing for redheads?"

"What on Mobius does this have to do with the astral projection?" He had a slight embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

"I'm getting to that." She rolled to her side facing him and continued to eat bits of lettuce. "You're incredibly intelligent and devious but there is a tender side. You're softboiled. I'll teach you how to ground yourself so that you don't run the risk of having your memories warped or worse: people seeing things you don't want them to. The world can never know about how many times you've been downright gentle and caring. That would ruin your image."

 _Softboiled?_

"It's easy, too. Close your eyes. First you imagine a pinpoint of light above your head and four at your feet and lines of light connecting them in the shape of a pyramid around your body. Now just imagine a box. Place all the specific memories you don't want getting seen into the box and lock it."

"That's it?" He rubbed his nose, "Fine." He visualized it exactly the way she asked him to. In the box he placed passwords, Lucinda and finally the memory of his grandfather's murder that was broadcasted to the world. He mentally placed a steel padlock on this memory box and opened his eyes.

"You should ground yourself from now on before you go to sleep. Just imagine the pyramid and I won't be able to cross into your plane anymore, or you mine. This also blocks the memory sharing we experienced earlier when I headbutted you."

"This sounds too easy." He peered at her casually eating.

She shrugged. "Sometimes magic is absolutely mundane."

"Can I astral project anywhere?" He was curious if he could infiltrate the minds of his enemies while they slept.

"You? No. Just to me and maybe Shadow."

There it is. "I'm sure he has lots of secrets he wants to keep locked away." Eggman paused.

"What?" Tilly tilted her head.

"Keep this between us, Sheptilah." He rolled to his side to face her.

"Of course." She raised an eyebrow.

"Shadow means a lot to me. He's the only family I have left on this planet besides my estranged nephew and niece. Everyone else is dead."

Sheptilah frowned.

"He was the life's work for my grandfather and as you know he died for Shadow; and so did my cousin. If anything happened to that hedgehog I don't think I could cope with it."

"You love him."

Eggman hesitated for a moment. "I don't love a lot of people but Shadow is one of them and I hate that he's your familiar. In the long run I don't care what happens to me. I'm getting old and tired but Shadow? Shadow has suffered more than his fair share."

"I would give my life for my familiar." She sounded angry, "You don't have faith in me?"

"You said you know you will be dead when this is all over. You said that you were very, very sure of that fact. You would be just like your mothers died sealing off the monsters."

"Yes."

"And their familiars died along with them, didn't they?"

Sheptilah inhaled sharply and cast her eyes down at the tile floor.

"So they did." His voice was grave. He turned to look at the pool's still water.

"I won't let you or Shadow die, Ivo."

"Don't make promises you cannot keep."

* * *

Shadow was handling the Chaos Emerald the team retrieved from the ziggurat. The warm power of the stone flowed from his hands to his body, energizing him. He held it close to his chest and silently thanked it for sharing its power with him.

He replaced the emerald in its protective case and went back up to his dorm. On his bed were two small boxes labeled with his name and the other simply said 'witch'.

Rouge tapped her knuckle on the door to get his attention. "Hey, Shadow."

"Hi, Rouge." He scratched his ear. "What do you want?"

"I read your report on the great north. I also heard that Cabbot chewed you out for being so reckless." Rouge smiled gently.

"Ah yes, I believe his exact words were ' _that witch is rubbing off on you._ '" Shadow opened the box with his name on it. It contained a smartphone. He rolled his eyes at the bat.

"Gramps, you gotta start carrying a phone. I've preloaded everyone's numbers into it." She pulled her phone out from a hidden pocket in her jumpsuit and waved it.

He narrowed his eyes at her and then sighed with defeat. "Fine, but don't send me a bunch of stupid texts when I'm trying to sleep."

"No promises!" She winked. "I do think we should keep Tilly here at GUN from now on. I don't like the idea of her playing triple agent with Eggman."

"She's nuts, that's all I'm gonna say." Shadow tossed his new phone on the bed and went to his ruined bag sitting on the floor. "I agree with you, though. We should go collect her."

* * *

Sheptilah sat at the edge of the pool with her legs in the water. The cold tile felt nice on her bare thighs. Eggman changed into his swim trunks before coming back and sat at the edge with her.

"Do you have to put your face on everything?" She nodded her head toward the center of the pool, a mosaic with his logo smiling menacingly at them.

"Because I have a very marketable face." He said. He called for his robot lackeys to bring them some dinner. "So when I was on your dream plane was that what the ziggurat looked like back in the day?"

"Yes, except it wasn't empty. It's dangerous to dream lucidly and have people there that are dead." She put her hair behind her ear with a finger.

"Why's that?" He noticed her teeth were slightly crooked.

"Because you'll never want to leave. You can do basically anything on that plane and some people become obsessed with it. Sometimes they even get seduced by the shadow people or other spirits visiting the plane. You shouldn't worry about it, though. I won't be lazy about my psychic grounding anymore." She sniffed.

"What was your kingdom like?" He leaned in.

"I spent most of my time with Hebat and playing the harp. They didn't like me much so I didn't go out much. Occasionally I had a suitor try to marry me but I was more concerned with the witch-eaters than anything else. That and I was seeing a succubus named Fegato."

Sheptilah frowned, "She's probably dead by now. They live extraordinarily long lives but… not _that_ long."

"Marrying a regular person after being with a succubus _would_ be a tough act to follow." He wiggled his eyebrows knowingly. She lightly shoved him for teasing.

"It wasn't that! So rude." She said between laughs.

Orbot and Cubot came in with lemonade and some hearty sandwiches. The two Overlanders ate and generally enjoyed each other's company for once.

"I have to say it's pretty nice having another Overlander around." Eggman wolfed down his sandwich.

"How so?" She ate her sandwich a little more daintily. Peanut butter and jelly on toast deserved to be treated politely.

"The furries get annoying, honestly. Even my best underlings. Thunderbolt doesn't understand personal space." He guzzled down his drink.

"She's in love with you, you know." Sheptilah finished off the rest of her sandwich.

"I know. I'm not stupid. I worry that if I outright reject her she may come down on me with the wrath of the heavens itself." He would never admit it to anyone else but he was a little afraid of the chinchilla.

"I think it's just a girlish crush," Tilly giggled, "You know, like having a crush on your teacher? Something like that."

"She's the size of a basketball! What does she think she'll get out of a relationship?"

"I asked her the same thing and she said the thought never crossed her mind." She said with a shrug. "Before I forget I'd like to share a memory with you."

Eggman wasn't really paying attention to Sheptilah; he was lost in thought about that damned yellow puffball. He jumped when he felt something touch his hand: Tilly had laid her palm on top of his fingers.

"What? Oh, a memory? Of what?" His face flushed slightly when he turned to her and saw her face was inches from his.

"You." She gently pressed her forehead to his.

Eggman found himself seeing things from Sheptilah's perspective. Peering at the man from inside the crystal while half-awake and feeling absolute guilt over his bleeding hand. Then he felt overwhelming fear in the strange, new future. He saw himself gingerly carry the witch into his home and felt her relief. She believed she was safe.

Suddenly they were in his dining room with the candles burning faintly. Sadness and panic is what he felt. He saw himself remove his glasses to reveal his mutant eyes. Her reaction was one of horror and intrigue.

 _They were beautiful,_ Sheptilah thought. _Exotic and spooky but… beautiful._ She was incredibly grateful he saved Shadow at one point and he experienced that emotion as a warm feeling starting in his heart and spreading through his chest.

Then undiluted terror when he grabbed her throat. Boiling rage and primal fear when he slammed her into the ground. The feeling of fighting back tears of regret, guilt and hatred as she dug her claws into his stomach.

She pulled away from him so he could process all he saw.

"Why did you want me to see this?" He scooted back from her.

"Because it's important you know how I see and feel about you as being my partner. We're bonded. Let's make more positive memories of each other and less negative ones. Let's be friends." She held out her hand and waited for him to take it.

"You don't want to be my friend." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Sheptilah nodded curtly but still held her hand out.

"Allies, then?"

He took her hand and firmly shook it. "Allies." She smirked and jumped into the pool pulling him in with her.


	31. Zip-Lock

Eggman popped his head above the water and yelped. The cold was a shock to his system but he quickly adjusted.

"Had you agreed to be my friend I never would've pulled you in!" The woman was spitting hair out from her mouth between laughs. Unfortunately, when submerged, her hair became a deadly net and stuck to her face.

"You're in trouble now!" He bellowed. He picked her up and held her over his head.

"Wait!" She yelped as he threw her into the deep end with little effort.

She broke through the surface and took several deep breaths. The pressure of the water on her chest felt comfortable; like a tight hug.

"Why does the water smell like it does?" She flipped her hair out of her face.

"Chlorine. Keeps the water clean so it doesn't get gross." He took off his glasses and set them on the tile.

"It kind of stings." She bobbed her hair with a glamour but that didn't stop it from sticking to her face. "So what's up with what you're wearing?"

Eggman is a conservative person. His swimsuit was an Edwardian style one piece with red and white horizontal stripes. He looked like a mustachioed peppermint candy that was shy about its arms and thighs.

Eggman swam over and circled her like a shark. "Sunburn raises your risk of cancer and I am very fair-skinned."

"I can't burn, but I can tan a little browner." Tilly shrugged. "We usually swam nude." She stated it so matter of factly.

"I'm surprised you can swim at all." He eyed her.

"Why?" She turned to keep eye contact.

"You're from the desert." He said.

"Oh," she chuckled, "We had pools, too. I think I mentioned it back at the ziggurat… that one was dried up and looked like a big hole in the floor."

"So much happened back there it's hard to keep the details straight, honestly."

"I assure you I'm not as ignorant as you think I am." She stuck her nose in the air.

A pause, and then: "Is that what you really want, though? A family?"

"Hm…" He hesitated. "No, I don't want a family." Eggman shrugged. "The last thing I need are sticky fingers all over my work."

"Family just gets taken from you." She frowned. "The moral of the story is don't love anyone. Don't care about anything! Exist in the void! Nothing hurts in the void!" She cackled.

"Except Shadow." Ivo waved a finger.

"All hail Shadow!" Sheptilah pumped her fist in the air. "King of the Nannae!"

"King? What do you mean _king?_ " Eggman furrowed his eyebrows.

"Shadow is functionally my brother and because I'm queen that makes him royalty. Rulers of nothing; but you understand how inheritance works, yes?"

"If Shadow is king… what does that make me?" He leaned in expectantly.

"Hmm," she grinned, "The court jester."

Eggman pouted. "I suppose I deserve that."

She looked down at her hands and looked like she was counting something off on her fingers. "King, prince…" she stuck out her tongue, "You're a duke. I think that's the order in which it goes."

"Ooh, a duke," he snickered, "Don't I feel fancy?" He wiggled his shoulders.

Sheptilah grinned mischievously. "Who was that other redhead from the ziggurat? The one with the big breasts?" She shook her chest a little for emphasis.

"Hah! That was Katella!" He pulled on his mustache. "She was something else."

Sheptilah dove under the water and swam to the shallow end of the pool. The weightless feeling was nice.

"She was in love with me but she was really violent. I had no peace whenever she was on Mobius." He followed her to the shallow end.

"You didn't even like her?"

"No," he rolled his shoulder, "I'm pretty sure I still have scars from the last time I saw her."

"Maybe if she comes back to Mobius I'll make her my wife. Healing powers, you see."

"You can have her!" He laughed. "You really _are_ suicidal; she collected rare species. You, by definition of being the last of your kind, would be something she would keep in a cage."

Tilly blushed a bit. "So do you think I have a chance with Katella?" She stuck out her tongue.

With a broad motion of his arm Eggman splashed her. "Don't invoke her, you reckless woman!"

Tilly spit out water and coughed. "I was only kidding! She sounds awful."

"You are reckless and it's gonna get us both killed."

Sheptilah rolled her eyes and made her way to the ladder. "I have no interest in someone who would try to pry the stone off my chest." She tentatively took hold of the metal ladder banister and was relieved to learn it didn't hurt her hands.

"Aluminum," as if Eggman could read her mind, "That's why it's not hurting you."

"Au-rumin-um…" She tried to pronounce the word, "I like it! It's shiny." She ascended the ladder and wrung the water out of her skirt.

"Getting out already?" He frowned.

"Yeah. I'm still a little tired." She took off the glamour and dispelled the water still on her.

He followed after her. He grabbed a towel from the nearby rack and dried himself off. "I'm glad I changed into my swimsuit."

"What about your gauntlet?"

"Ah, this thing is waterproof for the most part. It's fine."

"Speak for yourself!" MARI complained.

"MARI!" Eggman yelped. "I told you to go away!"

"You almost died because you didn't listen to me! However, I have been listening to you." She displayed an ear emoji. "I've identified a few words in the woman's language. If I listen long enough I can put together a dictionary for you."

"You're a glorified boombox." He furrowed his brows.

"I was made to analyze sound." MARI displayed a megaphone emoji. "I added it to the dossier you started a week ago."

"Huh." He said. He accidentally made a program that's actually _useful_.

"I'm going to go take a shower," Sheptilah waved to him, "Have fun yelling at your bracelet!" He looked up from his gauntlet at the shadow of the woman who had just left the room.

"Hey, boss?" MARI showed a question mark emoji on the gauntlet.

"Yes? What is it?" Eggman typed away at his computer in his office. He was updating many of his files and preparing for what was sure to be an uncomfortable trip to Sonic's shack.

"I found something." Her melodic voice chirped. "When you talk about a bond, she uses the word _pâdu_. It's Akkadian for 'to take prisoner'. She considers herself your prisoner."

"Akkadian?" He raised an eyebrow but did not stop typing.

"Akkadian is one of the oldest languages we know of. Stems from ancient Babylon and the fertile crescent. Her language is a mishmash of everything."

"That makes sense. She did explicitly say her culture was extremely mixed."

"Another troubling thing is she sometimes refers to herself as _wardum_ , Sumerian for slave. Next time you talk to her ask about Gilgamesh. Also please refer to her as _Nin_ Sheptilah so I may gauge her reaction."

"What is nin?"

"It means 'queen'. If you are also curious you can have her read ancient cuneiform writing. I can analyze the text and compare it to what she says and how she says it. This way I can extrapolate what words are borrowed from what language and which are purely Nannaeic, if there even was such a language."

Eggman let a small smile form at the corner of his mouth. "MARI, you are proving to be very useful. Nosy, but useful."

* * *

Eggman had sent Thunderbolt home and went to Sonic's house with Sheptilah. Shadow and Rouge arrived later having looked for the two Overlanders at the lair only to be directed to the shack on the island.

Over extra cheesy pizza the group discussed their options. Sticks was outside sitting under the window listening in.

Sheptilah cleared off the coffee table and put the royal grimoire on top. She thumbed through the pages with one hand and with the other enjoyed the savory mess that is pizza.

"This is disgusting," she said with her mouth full, "But delicious. So far this is the best thing in this century."

"Why isn't anything bookmarked in this mess?" Shadow was growing impatient. Amy looked at the book with great wonder and desire.

"Mm," Tilly finished off her slice, "Okay I found something." She licked her fingertips clean and tapped the page. "Somebody write this down." She sighed.

"I got it." No less than four voices spoke in unison. Tails with his laptop, Amy with her notebook, Eggman with his gauntlet and finally Rouge with her phone.

"A giant round pearl, roughly the size of my head. Three ingots of pure silver-"

"Are you making a magical scepter or one Hell of a piece of jewelry?" Eggman frowned.

"Zzt zzt!" She flapped her hand to hush him. "Five golden power rings. A frozen heart. A golden apple, mercury, witch blood, a nazar, salt, sulfur, five mermaid tears, mummia, Yggdrasil dew, Hellfire… and lastly iron cauldron large enough to cook an adult in but _not_ for that purpose." Sheptilah chuckled.

"Oh, Tiamatu _definitely_ wrote this; she had a dark sense of humor."

"What the heck are most of those things?" Sonic scratched his spikes in thought.

"Ugh, it's a MacGuffin quest." Eggman leaned back on the sofa and sighed heavily. "This is gonna take forever."

"I actually know what all of that is… and where most of it is." Amy spoke up. The group looked to her pleadingly.

"A Nazar is a little blue charm that looks like an eye. Mermaid tears is sea glass, mummia is mummy dust and a frozen heart is a piece of permafrost. Yggdrasil is the tree of life, Hellfire is an eternal flame. The rest is obvious." She shrugged. She knew all of this offhand because she loved the supernatural.

Sheptilah smiled at her. "Ah, I'm not the only witch here I see." Amy blushed and looked away, biting her lip.

"Where are we going to find a pearl that massive? Or a giant cauldron?" Rouge's wings twitched.

"There's the family cauldron in the ziggurat. It's all the way in the cistern which takes up the whole base of the building." The witch nodded.

"It's probably rusted away to nothing." Tails frowned.

"It's magic; it's probably still down there." Sheptilah was already planning her next excursion back to her old house.

"Yggdrasil is real?" The black hedgehog was stunned. "It's not just a fairy tale?"

"Uh, no," Tilly said, "It's _very_ real."

"I know where we can get the giant pearl." Eggman sat up with a start. "The Aquarium Park."

"I remember that place," Sonic sounded cocky, "I remember it being a piece of cake. Isn't it a rusted-out junkyard now, though?"

Eggman's face turned up with anger.

"What happens if we can't make the the staff in time? Or what happens if the staff fails? We gotta have a plan B." The blonde fox spoke up.

"We need all seven of the Chaos Emeralds. The beasts are extremely weak to the energy. I can go super and fight it." Shadow crossed his arms.

"Hmm," Sheptilah puffed out her chest, "You may not need to do that."

"What do you mean?" The black hedgehog side-eyed her.

"My gem." She pointed to it. "When broken it unleashes a ton of power vaporizing everything in the area for miles. All I have to do is break it, if push comes to shove." She spoke so calmly about turning herself into a suicide bomber.

"All that power in something the size of a coaster?" The blue hedgehog raised an eyebrow. Sheptilah nodded sagely.

"It won't come to that," Rouge said, "We've saved the world a million times without someone needing to turn themselves into a bomb to do so. Besides, what the _Hell_ would that do to Shadow?" Rouge realized her mistake the second the words slipped past her lips. Alas, you cannot unring a bell.

"Why would her death affect him?" Amy reached for another slice of pizza.

"He is my familiar. My death would hurt him a lot, metaphysically speaking."

"Okay, wait." Sonic was very confused. He held his hands up on either side of his face. "He's your familiar? Is this a sick joke?"

"It's true," Shadow turned away and held out his hand, "I've already been able to do some magic." He imagined the figure of a little white bird sitting in his palm and it appeared.

"Oh, wow," Sonic leaned in, "So we absolutely _cannot_ have her die; not that we would have anyway."

Shadow closed his fist and the bird vanished into vapor.

The cogs in Eggman's head were turning. Perhaps it was time to rebuild the Eclipse Cannon but build it better and more precise. He kept this idea to himself and he would work on it in secret. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the gauntlet showed a message from MARI.

Oracle Stone: lapis oraculi mentor stone / She is using Latin for some of her sentence structures and Akkadian for others.

Eggman made a mental note of that. A mentor stone? This suggested some level of self-awareness of the object.

"What about the ocean? If they're in the water then they can attack us from anywhere. So much of the ocean is unexplored, too." Tails was worried and nervously adjusted his goggles.

"We don't know that they're only in the water," the witch shrugged, "That's the problem."

Sheptilah shut the book. "Team Sonic: you should keep protecting the island."

"Team Eggman, that's you and I," she said to Ivo, "We'll get to work on getting everything I need to make the staff. Team Dark, you get to keep doing what you're doing at GUN The other Egg Bosses have been taken off their projects to monitor for witch-eater activity."

"Team Eggman?" Ivo was delighted the team was named after him and let out a grin.

"Don't push your luck." The witch rolled her eyes.

"I want to be on your team." Amy spoke up. She approached the witch, pushing pink hair behind her ear. "I want to help with the magical stuff."

Sheptilah looked into those innocent green eyes and frowned. "It's dangerous."

"I know." She put on a determined expression. "I can handle myself."

Tilly sighed. "Alright. If things get too dangerous I'm warping you home."

"Yes!" She jumped with joy.

"We should head back to GUN," Shadow gripped Tilly's shoulder, "There's still a lot you need to do. You need to be trained for combat."


	32. Aerodynamic

"I understand; but I would like to stay one more night. I have unfinished business here first. I'll come by the fortress in the morning." Tilly smiled.

Shadow nodded with understanding. "Alright."

"I have something for you." Rouge dug in her purse for the little white box and handed it to Sheptilah.

"Witch," she read the writing, "I guess nobody can spell my name?" She chuckled.

"Not by a long shot." Rouge scrunched up her nose cutely. "Since you're staying here, Eggman can show you how to use the phone. I preloaded my personal number and Shadow's in it."

Sonic's eyes lit up. "Ooh, can I have your number too, Shadow?" He was already planning to spam the Hell out of him whenever he acted extra rude.

"No. This is GUN business." He was very serious-looking.

Sonic pouted. "Fine."

Rouge winked at Sonic. The blue hedgehog let a sly smile draw up on his face and he turned away, "I can respect that." He was going to get that number some way, somehow.

Thunder rumbled outside in the distance. Tails' fur stood on end and he whimpered. The poor thing was terrified of lightning.

"Are you afraid of the thunder?" Tilly asked sincerely.

"Y-yes," the fox swallowed, "The sudden loud noises and danger of lightning bother me."

Sheptilah felt severe guilt over involving these children in her troubles. How are they supposed to save the planet if they're just kids? Sure, they say they've done it before but it isn't something a _child_ should have to do.

"I don't like it, either. We didn't get a lot of rain in the desert but when we did it was a bad omen. Hypocritical superstition since we use rainbows as our war emblem." She shrugged.

"She doesn't like tight spaces, either. Don't put Tilly in an elevator, she may kill everyone trying to get out." Eggman said. The group giggled and Sheptilah turned her nose upwards.

"Being struck by lightning is common when you're flying in a storm. I won't fly out in the rain, either." Rouge went up to Tails and smoothed down his fringe with her hand. He brushed her hand away.

The rain began to beat against the shack with fervor. Without a door or window panes the shack sometimes flooded but the wide brim of the straw roof usually protected it.

"Who designed this house? You're too close to the sea. What about the tides? A tsunami?" Tilly attempted to change the subject.

"I can outrun a tsunami!" Sonic crossed his arms. "Besides, I built this place and it's not finished."

"Huh," she paused, "Well that answers my question."

* * *

Back at the lair Eggman and Tilly were sipping hot cups of mint tea over the grimoire spread out on the coffee table. Eggman sat on the sofa while she sat cross-legged on the floor. The warm drink made her feel better. When she wasn't sipping it she let it float in the air next to her.

"Applying a living soul to a metal object seems to be almost impossible; at least if it's iron." The grimoire page was written in hieroglyphics and featured many intricate alchemic diagrams.

"The Kemetics were geniuses when it came to metallurgy. In Chu Nan they were all about healing. Most others wanted to turn garbage into gold. I think what you want to do with Metal Sonic is a combination of metallurgy and necromancy." Sheptilah bit her thumbnail in thought.

"I don't necessarily want to kill someone to get it done." Eggman was thumbing through a gossip magazine he had lying about.

"You don't _kill_ for necromancy; you bring them _back_."

"Let's not mess with the dead, alright? Can't you just make him into a real boy like Pinocchio?"

"I'm afraid I don't get the reference." She chewed her nail down to the quick but it regrew instantly.

"A toy maker wished for the puppet he made to become a real boy and a blue fairy obliged but the puppet had to go through trials to earn total humanity."

"For the last time I'm _not_ a fairy." She scoffed.

"I didn't say you were, Sheptilah." Eggman raised an eyebrow.

She exhaled slowly. "At any rate I don't think I'm gonna be able to do what you want with Metal. Sorry about that."

"It figures." He turned the page. He wasn't really reading the magazine. He was only looking at the pictures.

"Shadow asked me about talking to the dead the other day when I was in the hospital. Ever since I learned about Maria it's bothered me that he asked."

"You can't let him do that."

"I won't." She looked up at him with determined eyes. "My job is to protect him."

"That reminds me- you gotta get your act together. I… _we_... cannot have your suicidal ass get killed and ruin it for everyone."

She sat up straight and gasped softly. She looked around the room wide-eyed and then to Eggman.

"I'm.. I'm cured!" She said dramatically. "Oh, Ivo you've fixed everything."

She was rewarded with a pillow to the face. She grabbed hold of the pillow and squeezed it in her arms, giggling.

"I'm serious!" Eggman pouted.

"I know you are! I will live, for better or for worse." She stuck out her tongue. She finished off her tea and put the empty cup on the floor.

Eggman sighed heavily. He was too old for this nonsense.

"Do you think it's stopped raining? I wanted to go out and fly around."

"What? Like, on a broomstick?"

"No! On a rock! Why would I fly on a broom?" She shook her head with disbelief.

He imagined her struggling to stand on a pebble as she levitated. This he had to see. They went outside to check the weather. It had in fact cleared up. Only a few small clouds remained, hiding the waning moonlight.

"Awesome!" Sheptilah bounced on the balls of her feet. "I love flying." She walked around the outcrop and found a loose chunk of volcanic rock and, with magic, chiseled it into a surfboard-like shape.

She laid it on the ground and stepped on it. She took a stance like a skateboarder with her right foot forward. Magic flowed through the soles of her feet into the stone and it floated several inches off the ground.

"Huh. I imagined a boulder." He scratched his chin. "Where are you gonna fly to, anyway? Stay away from the water."

"We're going to survey the island." She grinned mischievously.

"We?"

She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him onto the stone and took off. Eggman let out a high pitched squeal and grabbed onto her waist. He held on for dear life fearing she would let him fall.

"Shadow doesn't like flying, either! It must run in the family!" She laughed into the wind.

"I like flying when I'm the pilot!"

"You're squeezing too hard! I can't breathe!" She slowed their speed. They were at least one hundred feet off the ground, safely floating above the shoreline.

"Sorry." He let his grip loosen. "What are you looking for?"

"I'll know it when I see it." She didn't find anything suspicious. She found it marvelous that the small island was made up of many different biomes. A desert, a tropical jungle, a forest, mountains and snow. _This island is a great resource for an apothecary,_ she mused to herself.

"I think I'll make myself a house here. It'll take a while to synthesize the staff and for you all to gather the Emeralds right? So I'll make my own place. Maybe I'll even open an apothecary."

"Why can't you just stay in the tower?" _Where I can keep a close eye on you,_ he thought.

"It's iron. Makes my brain feel like it's vibrating being surrounded by so much of it." It only took about an hour to make it around the island. Eggman finally relaxed and kept his hands on her shoulders for stability.

"Nowadays witches fly on broomsticks, vacuum cleaners or in mortar and pestles. Well, at least Baba Yaga does for that last one."

"Baba Yaga?"

"Baba Yaga is an old white-haired woman with a face like gnarled bark. She's got iron teeth and lives in a hut that walks on chicken legs."

"She sounds wonderful!"

"The roof of her hut is covered in human skulls and the fence around her domain is made of human bones." Eggman said matter-of-factly.

"I rescind what I said just now."

"According to my grandmother." he switched to a very heavy Russian accent. "Ivo, If you misbehave Baba Yaga will come to you and steal you away in the night! She eats children!"

Sheptilah laughed. "That's ridiculous! Children taste _awful_."

A moment of silence passed. She landed softly back at the lair in the garden and laid on the cold, damp grass. Eggman flopped down unceremoniously, glad to be back on solid ground.

"How do I use this thing?" She pulled the phone from out of her headspace. Eggman took it and turned it on.

"It's really easy." He swiped across the screen with his thumb to unlock it. "You just lightly tap the glass."

"This is so weird," she was delighted that it lit up on its own, "And it's so light, too."

"It's not waterproof or anything like that so be careful with this thing." He didn't mind teaching someone how to use technology. In fact, he liked it; but it was frustrating to teach someone from the Bronze Age the basics.

"So you've captured electricity and in turn trained it to display certain things on glass with metal backing." She smiled so wide her nose was scrunched up.

"You make it sound like intense dark magic." He chuckled. "It's just basic technology."

"But it's so cool! You know I've never really seen what my own face looks like? I get trapped in reflections so I never kept anything big enough to work as a mirror around. Now I can."

The black screen of the phone in sleep mode made it so she could see her face faintly but not trigger scrying.

"You don't know what you look like? You've never even had a portrait done?" He shook his head.

"Our painting style was more of an expressionist look than a realistic one." She pouted. "I know my eyes are purple!"

"Here." He took the phone and held it up to her face. "Say cheese."

"What?" Then a snap! A small flash of light came from the phone. Sheptilah jumped. "What was that?"

"The flash," he handed the phone to her, "Look."

She held the phone with one hand and lightly touched her cheek with the other. "That's so strange… and I'm really cute." She snickered. "That's so cool. For the first time since I was awakened I really like the future. I'm going to take photos of everything!"

"The phone can only hold so much memory." He warned.

"What makes it forgetful?" She raised an eyebrow.

"N-no, it's not that, it's that it can only store so much data."

She scooted up next to him and asked to take a picture of them together.

"Alright, I always oblige my fans."

"Your fan?" She turned to him and looked at him with a somewhat disgusted expression. He had a smug, toothy grin across his face when he took the picture.

"Hmph! You wanted me to make a weird face."

"Oh, yes."

"First you blow up the moon and then you make me look weird. I should turn you into a toad. A little toad with an impressive mustache." She secretly loved the picture, though. Had she had this technology back in her time it would be filled with her mothers and Hebat.

"You're perkier than usual." He leaned forward. "You haven't threatened me like that in days."

She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, "It's the moonlight. It feels nice." She looked at his shoulder and then his hand. She extended her pinky in order to test the waters. Slowly her ring and middle fingers followed. She _almost_ was close enough to hold his hand.

"Doctor Eggman?" a familiar voice called from around the corner. It was Dave with the last Hanukkah gift.

"Dave?" Eggman called out.

The blue river rat heard his voice and ran to it. When he saw the witch sitting beside him he went into hero mode.

"I'll save you, Doctor Eggman!" He put the small box down and tackled the woman.

She yelped with surprise and fell back. Eggman scratched his head.

"Dave, what are you doing?" He was unphased.

"On behalf of the Lightning Bolt Society I'm getting revenge for you!" He lisped, "I heard she tried to kill you!"

"Oh, hey, you're that cute blue boy from earlier!" Sheptilah smiled.

"What? Dave, get off of her. She's the Egg Boss of this island. Besides, we cleared all that up."

Sheptilah moved her bare feet under Dave and lightly pressed the soles against his ribcage, gently lifting him off of her and setting him down on the ground.

"W-wait you're the Egg Boss? For this island?" The poor kid was so confused. "I'm sorry, ma'am."

Sheptilah sat up and combed through her hair with her fingers. "We resolved our earlier fight. We're friends now. What's the Lightning Bolt Society?"

"Oh!" Dave stood up. "I founded it. We're a group of evildoers who live on this island. We hope to someday take down Team Sonic!" He took a heroic stance.

"I see," she raised an eyebrow and smirked, "Good work."

"Thank you." He bent down and picked up the box. "It's the last night of Hanukkah, Doctor. Here."

"Dave, I appreciate it but I don't celebrate. You can keep it." The Overlander tried to let him down easy.

"Oh," Dave frowned, "Well, sorry then. I'll see you around then."

"Wait," Tilly spoke, "How'd you get here from the beach?"

He turned to her and looked serious. "Don't ask questions you aren't prepared to have the answers to." Dave walked away and disappeared from the edge of the outcrop.

"I don't know how any of them make it here without swimming. I just don't ask." Eggman patted her on the shoulder.

" _Furries_." Was all Sheptilah could say.

"What was that unfinished business you mentioned earlier?" He was fiddling with his gauntlet.

She closed her eyes, "It's this. Just hanging out here. GUN is nice and all but they made me sleep in a prison cell. I don't like it there. Anyway, I wanted to verify that you shut down all your side projects like I asked you to."

"I haven't raided the village since you got here." He huffed. "I can't shut down _everything_. I still need to produce my things, refine the oil for my machines, et cetera. I have, however, stopped harassing the furries."

"Speaking of the Mobians… what is up with the injectors? Are you really going to remove them from the Egg Bosses?" She said.

"If you survive, you will force me to. If you die, you can't stop me from reneging on my word and I absolutely will not release my underlings." He decided brutal honesty was the policy to use. He needed her to live. He has plans to exploit hers and Shadow's magic to take over the planet after the witch-eaters are disposed of.

"What do they even look like? They have to be small, right?" She certainly didn't forget what she promised Shadow.

"Yes, they're tiny. I'll show you. They are one of my _finest_ inventions."

Eggman's lair contained many workshops and even more storage rooms. Most of it appeared to be junk and old robots he planned to recycle at a later date.

He held up a tiny disc-shaped object. It looked like a little metal button. "This is it."

"And it goes behind the ear?"

"Yes, nestled slightly into the bone so that it cannot be cut free." He flipped it over and showed the bottom side of it.

"That's horrifying. How do they even come out?" She bit her nail.

"They don't." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You have no way to even remove them?" Her upper lip was curled in a slight snarl.

"Not without them exploding, no. I never designed them to be removable. However I can invent a way to remove them safely if you were to _persuade_ me to."

"Persuade you?" Her cheeks prickled as they reddened. What the _Hell_ was he asking for?

"Yes. Remember earlier? Survive everything and I will be forced to do it."

"Oh." She looked at the floor. _Thank the gods._

"What did you _think_ I meant?" He crossed his arms.

"Don't be coy with me," she snapped, "Humans never change."

"What, did you think I was going to ask for sexual favors?" He chortled. "Dear God, woman. I've seen you shape-shift rows of fangs into your mouth. I'm not stupid nor am I interested."

"And you'd be smart to remember that!" She grinned. "I'm gonna kick your ass when this is all over."

"Let's go back to talking about alchemy over tea and cake. I have more questions about what you can and can't do." He gestured to the door.


	33. Lonely Is The Night

Morning came. Eggman convinced Sheptilah to at least stay for breakfast before leaving.

"How did you warp away back at the North Pole?"

"Hmm?" She drank a cup of milk. "Witch orb. Sonic has one; so does Amy and Rouge. They can summon me from anywhere in the world with it."

"Do I get one?" He seemed eager.

"Uh, _no_." Sheptilah grinned behind her cup. "You don't need one."

"Why not? What if I need your help?" He frowned.

"The bond," she gestured like she was tugging on a rope, "Remember?"

"Bah," he waved her off, "That's not as fun. Oh, before I forget please give this to Rouge," he slid a red envelope with gold edging across the table to her.

"What is it?" Sheptilah ran her thumb over the paper. It was expensive, thick cardstock.

"A present. She'll know what it is." He grinned.

"Sure, I'll give it to her." Tilly smiled.

* * *

GUN wasted no time offering to train Sheptilah as an unofficial member of Team Dark. Although she didn't catch on quickly with hand-to-hand combat she took surprisingly well to firearms.

"Finger off the trigger until you are ready to destroy the target," Shadow instructed. He was wearing earplugs and protective glasses. The gunmetal in the vintage semi-automatic glock contained no iron, so it didn't burn Sheptilah's hands. It was an older weapon but still in pristine condition. She opted to not put earplugs in but did wear the goggles. The weight of the gun, although it was unloaded, was almost comforting. It felt stable.

Rouge, wearing the same protective gear, was standing with her back to the wall behind the two. Her sensitive ears made dealing with ongoing gunfire difficult.

The range was empty except for the trio so they could take their time with the lesson.

With her index finger not touching the trigger she instinctively cupped her free hand under the grip where the magazine would go.

"You're teacupping," Shadow sighed, "Look." He was holding a plastic orange replica of the same gun she had in her hands.

"You're going to end up smacking yourself in the face if you do that." He gestured what would happen.

"Clasp your non-dominant hand over the dominant one like this, and watch the slide."

"Does any of this really matter, Shadow? This isn't going to kill a witch-eater." Tilly sighed.

"It's good to know if you're ever in a situation in which you will need to know it; but remember: don't ever shoot at a living target you do not intend to destroy."

"Destroy…" She repeated. " _Napalu_..."

"Most bullets are designed to cause a massive amount of damage to whatever they strike. Many of them actually break apart when they hit something solid. The metal bits that break off is called shrapnel. That's what does the most damage long-term if you survive being hit. Guns destroy their targets." Shadow knew first hand what chaos and strife gun violence creates.

"Never shoot at something unless you know what's behind it. Never shoot at something you don't intend to destroy. Finger off the trigger." It was becoming a mantra. Sheptilah muttered these things to herself so she would remember.

"Are you ready?" Shadow switched out the plastic gun for a loaded magazine.

"I don't know." She was nervous. Shadow gestured for her to hand him the gun. She did so by placing it flat against his palm and the barrel facing away from all of them. He motioned for her to step further aside. He loaded the magazine, put a round in the chamber and aimed.

The target paper was a vague humanoid silhouette with the organs mapped out.

"Range is hot!" He shouted. "Firing three rounds."

 _POP! POP! POP!_

He fired at the target in quick succession; each bullet landing square into the heart. The spent casings tinkled as they hit the ground.

The loud, frantic noises sent a jolt in Sheptilah's chest. "Jeez!"

"That's why we wear ear plugs." The hedgehog shrugged.

"Okay, I'm ready. I want to try now." She bounced on the soles of her feet.

"Calm down… calm down," he couldn't help but crack a slight smile, "Why are you so excited?"

"That _thing_ shoots out metal bits at blazing speeds, what's not to be excited about?"

"Fair enough." He handed the gun to her and positioned her hands so she avoids slide bite. "Do not fire until I am standing to the side. Take your time. The recoil may be stronger than you expect it to be."

A deep inhale and slow exhale. She aimed.

"Range is hot." She said. After a few seconds she pulled back the trigger, amazed at how much pressure a user had to apply. The first shot missed the target entirely but once she got her bearings she was able to shoot the last two bullets into the same holes Shadow made earlier.

The empty casings clanged on the floor. She ejected the empty magazine and locked the slide back.

"Nice shootin', Tex!" Rouge called, "We should get you a bazooka next. Eggman is toast."

"That was... unexpected." The hedgehog accepted the gun from her. "So you can't fight hand-to-hand worth a damn but you, an ancient woman who is unfamiliar even with the concept of wearing underwear, can fire a weapon _proficiently_?"

Sheptilah shrugged. "The gun does all the work. You pull back the thing and it goes pow!"

* * *

Sheptilah stayed with Rouge in her dorm for the night. Tilly drew herself a piping hot bath and got in. She played with her phone hoping to learn what the symbols meant. What was intuitive for the modern user are foreign, unreadable glyphs to her.

"Rouge?" She called for the bat. "I forgot to give you something earlier."

Rouge poked her head in. "How hot is that bath you're running?" The bat could feel the heat coming off the water.

"It's still kind of cold for me…" The witch reached into the back of her head and pulled out the envelope. She held it out for the bat. Rouge took it and flipped it over.

"What's this?" She opened it. A smile formed on the bat's face. "Oh! VIP tickets to the Stratosphere Club!"

"It's from Ivo." Sheptilah went back to her phone. "I don't know what that means."

Inside the envelope was a handwritten note on a folded piece of loose leaf. 

To Rouge,

I owe you a favor or two. I heard from a little hedgehog you love the Stratosphere Club. I happen to own it.

Enjoy these VIP tickets.

Doctor Eggman

"It's only the _hottest_ nightclub in the world! Getting a hold of tickets for the VIP club is impossible" She was floating off the ground from excitement.

"What's a nightclub?" Sheptilah scrunched up her nose.

"People get together and dance! It's a fun party. I think you'd like it, but you certainly don't have the clothes for it. I had no idea Eggman owned the place. Well, the deejay is a robot. I should've known; but that place is too cool even for him." Rouge was talking quickly. "Maybe someone else designed it and he just owns it…"

She gasped softly. "We should go! I'll take you and Shadow. It'll be fun, like a Christmas party."

"What's Christmas?" Tilly pouted.

"It's a holiday. On the twenty-fifth of December people give gifts to their friends and family. It's a celebration of love and charity." Rouge grinned. "I got Shadow a sweater. It says 'Merry Grumpmas'. I saw it and I knew he'd love it."

"Oh," Tilly smiled, "Wish I knew of that a bit ago. I could've gotten something for him, too."

"Ah, don't worry about it." Rouge said, "I'll have to take you shopping for clothes. You need to wear something besides GUN scrubs or your Egg uniform."

"I don't have any money or things to barter with," the witch said, "I'm sure I can get back to the ziggurat though and try for the coffers again."

"Money's not a problem, dear." Rouge snapped her fingers. "I have a lot squirreled away."

"I'll pay you back, of course. You can still raid the coffers whenever or if ever we get to them." The woman perked up and then sulked again. She set aside the phone, drew up her legs and rested her chin on her knees.

"Why do you run the bath so hot?" Rouge put the tickets back into the envelope and carefully stored it in her cleavage.

"I don't feel clean unless the water burns." She sighed softly.

"You're not self-harming with the scalding temperature, are you?" The bat was not easily fooled.

"Self-harming is pointless; I would just heal instantly. I'm just not clean until the water is hot and I like to linger in the water." She paused for a moment to catch her breath. "I'm really overwhelmed. So much is happening at once and I feel so weak. So useless."

"You are hurt by iron, right? Well, you're surrounded by it. In this century most buildings have iron supporting them and cars are all steel. Everything here at GUN and at Eggman's lair is all steel. You're not weak, you're just at a terrible disadvantage." Rouge was doing her best to comfort the woman.

"Thanks, Rouge." Tilly sniffed. "I guess you're right."

"We'll blow off some of that steam at the club. Though, maybe I should save these tickets for a special occasion," Rouge patted her breast, "Since you're an Egg Boss now and the good Doctor owns the place… you can probably get us in regardless."

"I really shouldn't show up to places claiming to be the head of a fascist organization. I'm a queen, not a dictator." She shrugged. "Then again… if I've got the clout I should use it."

Rouge grinned. "I'll let you finish your bath. We're having a sleepover in my dorm tonight."

"Why don't I have my own room yet?"

"You know what? I don't know. You'd think this place would have more spares and be more organized." Rouge shrugged, "That's above my pay grade though. We wouldn't be a government entity if everything made sense, was on time and efficient."

Sheptilah redressed into fresh GUN scrubs and wandered around the dorms in the form of a fat brown tabby cat with white fluff on her chest. Being so low to the ground most people didn't notice a random animal walking the halls, so she was free to be as nosy as she liked.

After finding nothing of interest she waddled back to Rouge's dorm and turned back into her human form.

She eyed Shadow's door and hesitated. She wanted to spend some time with him but she understood he valued his solitude.

"You can come in." His voice spoke from behind the door.

"Shadow?" Sheptilah was confused. How did he know she was out there? "How did you-"

"I can sense your presence."

Ah. That's how.

She turned the knob and let herself in. She softly closed the door behind her. Shadow was resting on his bed with a book in his hands; at some point he found his lost copy of House Of Leaves.

"So," she nervously giggled, "How's my familiar doing?"

"What is it you need?" He turned the page crisply.

"I can't simply spend time with you?" She rubbed her upper arm a bit. Maybe he _wasn't_ starting to like her after all.

"There's nothing for you to do in here." He closed the book and set it aside.

"Well, there is," she hesitated, "I need to show you how to close off your mind."

She explained the astral projection and dreamwalking and how Eggman had wandered into her plane without meaning to. She taught the hedgehog how to seal off his plane and lock his memories. Shadow mentally put his entire life in an imaginary safe with thick steel walls and closed it tightly.

"It's possible for him to astral project all the way out here, but that's highly unlikely. I really want to sever the bond. Do you think there is a way we can do it without Tower knowing?" At this point Sheptilah was sitting on the bed beside Shadow with her hands clasped together in her lap.

"It's the only way we can maintain control over the good Doctor at the moment. I really detest the idea of him coming into my mind, however." He scratched his chin in thought.

"I'm making everyone suffer, I'm sorry."

"Oh, please. We are always suffering regardless." He waved her off. "It's always _something_."

"I guess." She sulked. "I want you to know something else, too. If I die violently it's going to destroy you the same way losing Hebat destroyed me. I wasn't always this weak and distant."

"So don't die." She certainly wouldn't be the first or even the second Overlander he was close with to die a horrible death.

"We had gotten separated in a fight against the witch-eaters. Nannae and those beasts… it was calamity. One grabbed her and it tore her to shreds." She had a thousand-yard stare. "Every day I wonder if my people let her die because of their hatred of her kind."

"Don't go down that rabbit hole. You won't come out of it." He snapped his fingers to get her attention. "I am Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form. I've been through worse than dreamwalking."

"What's wrong with everyone in this century? Why is everyone saying that? 'I've been through worse'? That's not a comfort, that's terrifying. You're kids! You should be out catching bugs and going to school. Rolling in the mud. Instead you fight bullshit monsters on behalf of a government entity." She huffed.

"We work hard so that others may get a chance to live and enjoy life. This world has always been dangerous." He nudged her leg with his foot.

"Bah," She flopped onto her back, "It doesn't matter; there's no possible good ending. If I don't die defeating the beasts I'll outlive all of you."

"You certainly won't outlive me. I'm functionally immortal, remember?" His ears folded ever so slightly.

"Alright, we'll outlive everyone by a century or two and then I'll finally be the last one of this group to die. Slowly, withering away one by one." She sighed.

Shadow leaned in and pointed a finger at her square in the chest. "You never know when someone is going to die. Live in the moment."

She grabbed his finger and pulled him into a hug. He resisted at first but then relaxed. She lightly stroked his spines downward so as not to prick herself. Unlike Hebat, who was fluffy and soft, Shadow was akin to a cactus.

"You're right, as usual." It was quiet for a moment.

"Thanks for carrying me around without complaining when I exhausted myself. I appreciate that."

"What? Oh, goodness!" Sheptilah laughed. "Okay, yes I had a lot of trouble seeing around your spines," she patted one cluster for emphasis, "But it wasn't bad at all."

"I do have a big head, don't I?"

"Not nearly as big as Ivo's." She said under her breath. She began to scratch the back of his ear. "Rouge wants to take us clubbing. I'm still not completely sure what that means. Eggman gave her some VIP tickets to Stratosphere."

"Oh, God," Shadow rested his cheek against her Oracle Stone, "I guess he remembered I told him she liked that place."

Sheptilah shuddered. The sensation of the stone being rubbed up against, even by a familiar, was so weird. Similar to the feeling of a brain freeze except it was felt in the chest.

"I kind of want to go. I want to know what kids do these days. Rouge thinks I can get us in without using up the tickets on the virtue of me being an Egg Boss. She's so determined, I can't say no."

"I guess that means I have to go to to babysit you. I can't imagine how much trouble the two of you will cause if I'm not there to chaperone." Shadow could feel the stone pulsing as if it had its own heartbeat.

"What's the thing about the red moon? I read about it in the grimoire." Shadow drew up his knees. The stroking was making him fall asleep and his voice got quiet. Under the touch of his witch he seemed to unwillingly melt away and become vulnerable.

Sheptilah squeaked. "What?"

"The lunar eclipse," he shut his eyes, "And does it affect me, too?"

"Oh, dear gods, no. Only someone with a stone. It uh…" She chose her words very carefully. "Exposure to the moonlight of a lunar eclipse, which appears red for most of it, makes the magic in the Oracle Stone frantic. Manic, even. Witches and familiars alike have trouble maintaining their forms for a while afterward. Their behavior is unpredictable and can become violent."

"Have you ever been exposed to it?"

"A red moon? No. We were very careful about that and I want to keep it that way." She rested one hand behind her head and kept petting Shadow with the other. "The rapid change of the lunar phases is what does it."

"That sounds exhausting, having to do things by the moon."

"You have no idea." Sheptilah snorted. "I think I should head off to Rouge's room now. I'm falling asleep."

Shadow shifted positions and put his arm around her waist. He hated feeling vulnerable and tried his best to hide every bit of weakness he had. In the end, just like Eggman, he was touch-starved and quietly accepted the affection shown to him.

Being carried for hours half-asleep was something he never experienced before and would treasure the memory of being treated so tenderly. He wondered if that's how toddlers felt when a parent gently rocked them back and forth to make them fall asleep.

"Shadow," she lightly flicked his ear, "I gotta get up."

"Okay." He sat up so she could stand. "I don't sleep much but I still ask that you stay out of my dreams."

"I don't like wandering when I'm asleep. I won't go anywhere near your plane while I'm asleep, I promise." She stood and stretched.

"Good night." Shadow picked his book up and resumed reading it, a little sad to be left alone.


	34. Twin Souls

Sheptilah found Rouge's bed comfortable but small. Instead of maintaining her human form she again turned into the fat cat and cuddled up against the bat's side.

She had a hard time falling asleep and tried to remember her younger days at the ziggurat.

* * *

"Mama Lulu! Mama Tiamatu!" A younger, teenage Sheptilah embraced them. Tiamatu shaved her head bald and was a tall, imposing woman with very dark skin.

Lulu kept her short black hair tightly braided against her scalp. Like Tiamatu, Lulu also had very dark skin but was a much shorter, heavier-set woman. Both queens were decked out in black robes and gold jewelry and their Oracle Stones glistened like suns unto themselves. The queens were lounging at the top of the ziggurat on plush pillows eating fruit. Their familiars, a cat and a jackal, were also lounging about doing nothing.

Sheptilah stood out against them being a much lighter brown skinned girl and having white hair. Tilly herself was only wearing a purple sarong around her waist but no top or shoes. Instead of gold she opted to wear a simple bronze circlet.

"I have been looking all over the ziggurat for you," Sheptilah sniffed, "The citizens were mean to me again."

"Where is Hebat?" Tiamatu asked.

"She ran off crying. Moms, I don't want to be queen." Warm tears ran down her cheeks. "Why can't you adopt another child?"

"The throne is yours when we retire whether you like it or not. You can do this, Sheptilah. It's one ziggurat, how hard can it be? Lulu and I spend most of our time not doing much but guarding the structure." Tiamatu was stroking Sheptilah's hair comfortingly.

"It's hard when kids throw stones at your familiar because she's half-and-half. It's even harder when her own parents aren't around anymore."

"You're a witch, use your magic to teach them a lesson." The jackal spoke up.

"He's right, you know." Tiamatu nodded.

"It's the principle of it! She's not hurting anyone, why are people so mean? She's just an armadillo."

"Mrrow," the cat familiar stretched, "Princess, you know changelings have unstable magic. People are just afraid of what could happen to them. You have to defend your familiar with your life, regardless of who or what they are. This also means you need to stick up for Hebat."

"Sometimes people won't respect you unless you flex your powers." Lulu chuckled. "Listen…"

"I don't want to hurt a bunch of kids," Sheptilah wiped her nose on her forearm, "They're just dumb kids."

"You don't have to hurt them, just scare them." The jackal laughed. "Turn one into a toad!"

"Go find Hebat and be with her." Tiamatu squeezed Sheptilah's shoulders gently.

The memory of her first act as queen intruded on her mind. She was barely twenty years old when her mothers retired and left the throne to her. More and more outsiders came to live at the ziggurat who were unfamiliar with the concept of witch-eaters. The queens did their best to hide the fact that these parasites were slowly destroying those with Oracle Stones like a communicable disease.

An outsider was caught committing a heinous, unforgivable crime against a child and was swiftly sentenced to death by the courts. The punishment was the classic beheading. There is no coming back from that.

Nobody had been sentenced to death in so long that Sheptilah had never done it before. As queen it was her duty to carry out the sentencing she did not even lay on the prisoner. The man was old and weary, drugged to keep still. His arms and legs were bound with heavy rope and his head placed on the pedestal at the top of the ziggurat.

Sheptilah was dressed in a white sarong and leather sandals. She wore no jewelry as was the custom for executions. Her mothers and their familiars looked on with expectation and pride. Along the steps to the top of the temple people had gathered to witness the execution.

She gripped the iron machete's ivory handle nervously. Her hands were shaking and she was sweating.

"Ti-ti, do you want me to do it?" Hebat stood next to her witch.

"I have to do it," she swallowed hard, "I have to be the one to do it. If we want the people to respect us I have to carry out the sentence." _I've never killed a person before, though,_ she thought.

"Alright, but if you want I can do it." Hebat clasped her long claws in such a way that it resembled a dagger. She intended to behead the criminal with her own hands.

The man moaned. The drugging was wearing off. "Where am I?" He slurred his words, struggling to open his eyes.

"The gates of Hell," Hebat spat on him, "And you've got a one-way visa."

"For your crimes committed against my people I h-hereby condemn you to the netherworld." Sheptilah lifted the machete above her head. She hesitated for a second and then brought down the weapon with great force.

She missed the man's neck by several inches and only managed to lop off the top half of his head at a strange angle. The chunk of skull and brains flopped to the ground flaccidly.

The man was still alive but having half of your brain chopped off didn't allow for much understanding of what had just occurred.

Sheptilah raised the bloody weapon and tried again. This time she managed to cut his neck but it didn't go all the way through and his head hung on by the thinnest bits of skin.

The head turned up to look at her. It was Shadow.

"You can't do anything right," his head laughed at her, "You can't do anything right."

She woke up when Rouge yelped. The bat had hit the floor when Sheptilah's glamour broke and she returned to her full size, shoving Rouge off the bed.

"Rouge!" Sheptilah leaned over the edge. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry!"

"It's…" Rouge looked up at the digital clock. "Four in the morning. What happened?"

"I'm so sorry, I had a nightmare. I dozed off and messed up… I wasn't able to dream lucidly. I was bouncing between memories and dreaming. I guess I got so upset I changed back to my normal form."

Rouge crawled back into the bed. "No more nightmares, okay? That kind of hurt." Sheptilah scooched back to make room for the Mobian.

"I'm so sorry," she wiped sweat from her brow, "This is usually why I sleep alone."

The bat yawned, "Well if you want I'm sure Shadow will let you stay with him. He never actually sleeps. He doesn't need to. He just sits up and reads all night."

"I don't want to bother him," she sulked, "I'll be okay."

"But will _I_ be ok?" The bat giggled. "Don't sweat it."

 _I should've stayed at the lair,_ she thought, _at least if I kicked Eggman I could say he deserved it._

* * *

The weather at the shopping arcade was warm and sunny. Sheptilah had warped them to a warm, southern part of the country at Rouge's recommendation.

"Ladies, can we get a move on?" Shadow was impatiently sipping an iced coffee while Sheptilah and Rouge were window shopping. He insisted on going with them because he didn't trust the two women alone.

"What? We're waiting on you!" Rouge tapped her foot. "You can't bring in food or drinks."

"I'll wait out here." He sucked on the straw loudly.

"Don't make me invite Sonic." Rouge wagged a finger threateningly.

Shadow pulled the lid off the drink and guzzled it, ice and all. " _Now_ will you get a move on?" He smacked his lips.

"You… didn't even chew the ice!" Rouge's wings drooped.

* * *

The trio enjoyed the day although Shadow himself would never admit it. He even got himself a new pair of sunglasses. They stopped to get lunch at a cute bistro. Rouge had to read off the menu items for the witch one by one.

Sheptilah even convinced Shadow to take a selfie with her. He frowned in it, of course; he had a reputation to uphold.

"This century is so cool… once I get used to being surrounded by so much iron I'm sure I'll be comfortable enough to carry on like a normal person in this time would." She sipped her sangria between bites of salad.

"May I see your phone?" Shadow held out his hand. Sheptilah nodded and gave it to him. The hedgehog thumbed through the pictures. She was already taking pictures of random things like pigeons and dressing room mirror selfies. Then he saw the photos with Eggman.

"I still don't understand how alcohol doesn't affect you," Rouge raised an eyebrow, "that's honestly just odd."

Sheptilah shrugged. "It sucks, though. Everyone without a stone can get a buzz and have fun and I'm over here like the designated camel driver."

"Yeah, well, most alcoholic drinks taste like crap anyway. The point is to get the buzz." The bat opted for a dark cola to go with her cheeseburger.

"Rouge, you are _not_ missing out. This is glorified fruit juice. What is the drinking age, again?"

"Twenty-one. You are _way_ over the age limit." The bat grinned.

"Oh, you have three years, that's not that long." Sheptilah stuck out her tongue. "Mind your elders, little lady."

"There's elder and then there's ancient artifacts. You, ma'am, belong in a museum."

Sheptilah gasped as if she was greatly offended, "Well I look damned good for my age. I put the 'great' in great grandma."

"When did you take these? Don't tell me you're getting all chummy with the good Doctor." Shadow placed the phone on the table.

"What? Oh, I asked him how to use it. Up until that night I didn't know what I looked like. I made him take that photo of me then I asked for one of us together and he made me make that stupid face." Her cheeks were slightly pink, "I was trying to butter him up to get information out of him about the injectors."

Rouge chuckled, "Oh, that captive scrying nonsense? You've never seen what you look like until now?"

"Nope, and I am damned cute." Sheptilah looked at the back of her hands, "My skin used to be darker, though. I guess being out of the desert sun for five thousand years sucks the color out of you."

"What did you find out?" Shadow asked.

"They can't be removed. He never devised a way for them to come out. He said if I survive the whole ordeal with the eaters he would be forced to invent a way to remove it. They are also embedded into the bone." She sighed.

"So he lied when he said he'd remove the injections back at the north…" Shadow was disgusted.

"Can't trust him worth a damn." Rouge scoffed.

"I _don't_ trust him," Sheptilah said. She finished off her drink and chewed on the ice.

They were quiet for a bit as they finished off their food.

"I still want to go to the club, though. It sounds like fun." Sheptilah grinned.

Rouge gasped. "Yes! We should go tonight. The theme is outer space according to MARI's blog."

"Why does the robot have a blog?" Shadow narrowed his eyes.

"Hello? It's all about marketing!" Rouge snapped her fingers.

"Outer space, huh? Sounds cool. Are you sure I'm not too old for clubbing?" Sheptilah blushed. "I feel like I would be out of place."

"I'm pushing being a century old, if _I'm_ not too old _you_ aren't too old." Shadow brushed back some of his spines.

"I always forget you're a vintage piece, Shadow." Rouge teased. "One of these days I'm going to buy you a big box of those lemon candies you love to carry around like a grandpa."

"The joke is on you seeing as how I would enjoy the _Hell_ out of that gift." He crossed his arms.

"I prefer bubble gum," Rouge paid for the meal and gathered up her bags, "Let's go back to shopping! That is if you two aren't feeling achy and arthritic from being out all day."

"Silly me! I left my orthopedic skates at home. I guess I'm done for the day," Shadow smirked.

* * *

"Thanks, MARI." Eggman lounged on his sofa watching a soap opera when the robot sent him a message.

"Absolutely. They talked about you." Eggman had quietly uploaded MARI's app into Sheptilah's phone when he had access to it the night before. The app itself was small and allowed the device to connect to MARI's main servers remotely. With this app sitting in her phone the robot could monitor her as long as the device was on and connected to wifi.

"Anything nice?"

"Actually, yes," MARI's tinny voice chirped on his gauntlet, "They're coming to your club tonight. You should dress up and go meet them. Tonight's theme is outer space."

"Hmm," Eggman stroked his mustache, "I know exactly what I'm going to wear."

"One other thing-" MARI displayed a frowny face.

"Yes?"

"Shadow knows you lied about the injectors coming out of the Egg Army militants."

"Shadow is an idiot if he believed for one second I was going to do that," Eggman laughed heartily, "Thank you MARI. See you in an hour. Tonight I am going to paint the town red."


	35. Pop Culture

The Stratosphere Club fit perfectly in the densely populated Southern California section of Northamer. The city itself was massive and many clubs lined the streets. Even from space you could see the bright spot of the state lit up in a rainbow of colors.

The sections were divided by four colors marked by the paint used to decorate the street: the pink district were clubs and arcades dedicated to children, the blue district was for teens and young adults and the green district was for adults.

To avoid any legal and moral consequences, the red district that catered to adult sexual fantasies, was all the way at the north end of the state, hundreds of miles away.

Somewhere on the edge of blue and green was Stratosphere. The gigantic whale-shaped building took up an entire city block. The windows were brightly lit and tinted many colors but designed so that you cannot see into them.

There was a line down the block as Mobian bouncers fought to keep people from running in. Dressed to the nines, Sheptilah, Shadow and Rouge walked to the very front of the line.

The woman, clad in blue bell-bottom jeans with yellow star decals along the bottom, white boots with matching belt and a low cut orange crop top stood with her hand on her hip. She smirked at the bouncer who was ready to throw her to the end of the line. Her long hair was tied into pigtails at the back of her head like handlebars. The shorter hairs stuck straight up giving her the illusion of antennae.

"And who the Hell are you? Get to the back of the line." The large bull was imposing, sneering at her past his snout. His deadly sharp horns glowing from the neon lights behind him.

"I know the owner." Her large earrings, a planet and a star, tinkled when she turned her head.

Shadow himself only wore red shutter shades and a black leather jacket.

"And we've got VIP tickets." Rouge handed them to the bouncer. Rouge herself was wearing a lot of colorful plastic jewelry known as kandi, which stood out against her black bodysuit.

"Hey boss." The bouncer spoke into a wrist communicator shaped like a star. "You know this chick? Uh huh? Well, alright." The bull's demeanor changed. "You three are more than welcome to come in. Save your tickets." He opened the door and let them inside.

"It's good to be queen." The Overlander smirked, head held high as those in line openly complained.

At the vestibule were two robots behind a large desk. A short greenish one with drills for hands could barely see over the top of it and the other a tall chicken who seemed to do all the work. The chicken was typing away at a laptop computer. At the other end were two heavy doors shut tightly, but faintly thrumming music could still be heard. As the little green one moved back and forth behind the counter his antenna bounced.

"Are you drinking tonight?" The chicken squawked.

"Nothing alcoholic." Rouge spoke.

"Wait." The rooster clucked, looking down at his screen then up at the trio. "Are you Shadow the hedgehog, Rouge the bat and Shep-tee-luh?"

"Yes." Shadow nodded.

"Ha-ha Ha-hah!" The chicken laughed. "Welcome to the Stratosphere Club! It's a real pleasure to meet another of the Robotnik family. I mean you specifically, hedgehog. The Doctor is waiting for you three upstairs."

"Welcome, welcome!" The little green one chirped, his drill hands rotating with excitement.

The chicken typed away at the laptop. Suddenly a portal opened up underneath the trio and warped them to the top floor.

"Au reservoir!" The green one waved.

The chicken slapped him upside the head. "It's au _revoir_ , you dope!"

The VIP loft was plush, had its own robot bartender and a disco ball in the ceiling. The sofas and chairs spread about were soft and colorful. One wall was a large glass pane that allowed you to look down at the dancing masses.

Eggman stood proudly at the warp's exit. One hand was on his hip and in the other a glow-in-the-dark alcoholic martini. He was wearing his typical clothing except it was hues of bright yellow instead of red with glowing white piping.

The trio appeared confused and startled but relaxed a bit when they saw the Doctor.

"Hello, treasured guests." He grinned.

"You're glowing!" Sheptilah looked down at herself and saw that her hair was brightened under the black lights as well as the decals on her clothes. Shadow's glasses and red streaks were all that glowed but Rouge herself was bright enough to light up her own city.

"Yep, that's the magic of black lights. Welcome to the Stratosphere!"

"How did you know we'd be here tonight?" Rouge raised an eyebrow.

"When the bouncer called me and told me you were here I warped in," Eggman lied through his teeth, "These warps are actually a prototype. Still in testing. If, at a later date, it's found that your internal organs have shifted I'm sure Miss Witch here can fix you up."

Sheptilah bit her lip nervously. She didn't want to be up in the loft if Eggman was going to stay.

"I still can't believe you own this place," Rouge looked around, "I thought it looked a lot like the Starlight Carnival but I incorrectly assumed it was a coincidence. There is no way you are this cool."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," Eggman chuckled, "enjoy yourselves."

"Is… is that Vector?" Rouge looked down at the crowd, "Oh my God it looks like he's talking to the deejay."

"Vector? I thought the Chaotix were blackballed from this club... Oh well. MARI can defend herself if they cause trouble." The man gestured for them to sit somewhere. Rouge stayed watching the crocodile from the window but Shadow sat with Sheptilah on a sofa. Eggman sat across them and crossed his legs at the knees.

"So," he sipped his drink, "I made sure nobody else would be up here tonight when I heard you were coming."

Shadow tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. How could he have cleared anyone out within minutes unless he knew hours ago we would be here? This place is absolutely deserted.

"How did you sleep last night?" He nodded to the woman.

"Me?" Sheptilah pointed to herself.

"Yes, you."

"I slept fine; why do you ask?"

Eggman dragged his index finger across his throat and made a slicing sound.

"You… you saw?" She furrowed her brows, "I'm sorry."

"I saw it, too," Shadow muttered, "I couldn't do anything, though."

"So even at great distances between iron walls and locking down my personal astral plane it's not necessarily enough…" Her face flushed with shame.

"I have to say I have a newfound respect for you." He smiled smugly behind his drink; his mouth warped into a snarl by the glass.

Sheptilah's cheeks flushed harder. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Never mind, then," he shrugged, "Enjoy your night."

"I'm going down there. I don't like how the deejay is looking at Vector." Rouge pulled some cotton balls out of her cleavage and stuffed them into her ears. She did this to prevent hearing loss.

"The door is back there," Eggman pointed, "It's the same way back up."

"Thanks." She flew off and disappeared.

Shadow went up to the window and watched for Rouge. He was able to spot Charmy flying around having fun but did not see Espio.

 _He must be in camouflage, but why would the Chaotix even be here?_ The hedgehog wondered quietly.

"Why did your robots refer to me as a Robotnik?" He was speaking to Eggman.

"Are you not a Robotnik? Gerald considered you his son. Your legal papers sometimes refer to you as Shadow Robotnik."

"Don't get it twisted," Shadow peered over his shoulder, "I'm not _your_ family."

Eggman was hurt by his words and felt his chest tighten slightly. Sheptilah felt the pain too, albeit briefly.

"I'd like to talk to Sheptilah alone for a bit, if that's alright with her keeper." Eggman raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog.

Sheptilah nodded at Shadow. "I'll be down in a moment."

Shadow lingered for a bit before he turned and left. He closed the door behind him but pressed his ear to it so he could eavesdrop. As it turns out the stone did not translate her spoken words for him so he heard her speaking in Nannaeic but with context clues was able to understand the conversation.

"How do you miss when chopping off someone's head? He wasn't even moving." He snickered a bit.

"I _said_ I didn't want to talk about it." She crossed her arms, hair swaying as she shifted her body weight from one leg to the other.

"I'm kidding," Eggman frowned, "I was kidding." He set his empty martini glass on a nearby decorative table and stood.

Sheptilah turned to the window and watched the guests dance and party. Some of the colorful lights moving up and down the walls changed from stars to snowflakes and back again. The robot deejay was scratching digital records on the decks and jumping up and down with the crowd. Every so often she would pose for selfies with one or two partiers.

"I mean, he deserved to die," she sniffed, "So I don't feel bad about that."

"Well, yeah, nobody is arguing about _that_." Ivo walked up to her. As big as he was he was also quite stealthy.

"I had just never taken a life before. It was a little traumatizing."

"I wish I didn't see the dream, either." He placed his big hands on her shoulders. He felt her jump with surprise; she didn't realize he was so close. Instead of threatening him with her elbow like the other times she placed one of her hands on top of his. His sausage-like fingers dwarfed her bony ones.

"I asked Shadow if we could break the bond in secret and he refused. He said it's all that's keeping you behaved."

"He's right," Ivo chuckled a bit darkly, "It is." A pause, and then: "What else do we share?"

"I felt it when Shadow said you weren't family," she sighed, "We share pain and dreams… I don't know what else if anything."

"We don't share happiness?" His breath tickled her ear.

"I think that when one person is happy another tends to feel happy too; even without a magical bond." Sheptilah giggled, "Right?" She nodded toward the crowd, "It's a party down there. I don't see one sad person."

The music thrummed quietly and the lights changed colors to match the beat.

"What do you want for Christmas? I think it's tomorrow, actually." She looked up at him.

"I don't celebrate that holiday," he shook his head slightly, "I don't really celebrate any holidays."

"You've gotta want _something._ " She raised her eyebrows.

"Hm…" He squeezed her shoulders slightly; then his hands slid down her arms to her hips. "I think I know what I want."

The only way Rouge could make it near the deejay deck was by dancing through the crowd. The guests were dressed in many different styles of clothing. Some were classic ravers with fluffy leg warmers and bouncy cyberlox and others dressed in a more modern look of bodycon dresses and glittery high heels.

A few were even dressed as sexy snowmen and sexy Christmas elves. Perhaps they didn't get the memo that it was a galaxy themed night.

"Exploration of space!" The crowd sang in unison with MARI. It wasn't hard to learn the song since that was the only lyric. The words Cosmic Gate appeared at the front of deck in LED lights showing the audience who the artist was.

If you don't back the fuck away from my deck I swear I will make an ugly alligator skin purse out of you." MARI hissed at Vector.

Although the robot was a short and thin one, she was packing major heat. Her black bodysuit was shiny and her chest contained a heart-shaped subwoofer. Her eyes were two different shades of blue and she wore large green headphones. A transparent pink visor made her eyes appear purple. Above her head was a rainbow halo made of light and tilted as if it was falling off. From her feet to her thighs her legs lit up as an equalizer to match the song currently playing. One gloved hand was bright pink and the other green.

"I am a _crocodile!_ " He hissed back. "I just want to know if you're really a robot."

"I am a gyndroid, I will have you know," she didn't take her hands away from the deck, skillfully moving switches and pushing buttons, "Now get off my stage!"

"Who built you? Sony? Yaskawa? Stäubli? Toshiba? _Sega?_ " Vector was rapidly naming off technology companies, hoping to trip up the 'gyndroid'.

With one hand still on the controls she used her other to reach under the deck and pull out a massive laser gun and aimed it at the crocodile.

"Back off," the gun whined as it charged up.

"Alright, alright!" He put his hands up in submission, "Put the gun away!" He jumped off the platform and rushed back into the crowd.

"And you," MARI turned around and pointed the gun at seemingly nothing, "Need to fuck off, too."

Espio the chameleon was standing behind her ready to pounce and save Vector in his invisibility camouflage.

 _She must have heat sensors,_ he thought. He nodded and ran after Vector, still invisible. Although typical chameleons did not give off much heat at all Mobian chameleons were a bit different and did.

"Scratch, Grounder," she spoke into an unseen communicator, "How are the Chaotix in here? They're blackballed. Bounce them out." She shoved the gun back under the deck and switched songs with flawless fading.

"Three! Two! One! Space Love!" A male singer cheerfully shouted. According to the screens it was Fastway.

"Going somewhere, Vector?" Rouge smirked.

"You!" The crocodile stopped dead in his tracks. "Are you here on GUN business?"

"I'm here for pleasure." She chuckled. "Why are you here?"

"Trying to find out who runs this joint." He scratched his chin. "You wouldn't happen to know who it is, would you?"

"Doctor Eggman, of course."

"What?!" His toothy mouth hung open.

"I was just as shocked as you! He's upstairs in the VIP loft right now. He gave me some tickets, too; but I got in because I know somebody."

"You just… we've been investigating for months!"

Rouge shrugged, "You better get out of here before you're bounced with great prejudice."

Sheptilah's breath hitched when she felt his hands slide down her waist. Before she could react he turned her around and grabbed her free hand and started a tango.

"Let's dance." He smiled innocently.

"Woah!" She squeaked as he dipped her.

Shadow breathed a sigh of relief. He was about ready to kick in the door and then kick in Eggman's skull if he so much as even joked about being untoward with his witch.

"You look good in orange," he was supporting her by her lower back, "But why are you dressed like a disco queen?"

"Rouge picked out this outfit." She put a hand on his shoulder and one on his forearm for leverage. _You know, if he wanted something else I am not sure I would have said no,_ she thought to herself. _I've been so stressed…_

"I like it," he lifted her upright and gently brushed her hair out of her face. "I see you've shaved, too."

"I didn't shave," her skin prickled at his touch, "Rouge made me feel self-conscious so I'm using a glamour." She inhaled sharply, "We should dance downstairs with everyone else; I can barely hear the music up here."

"You want me to go down and dance with you in a crowd of people?"

She looked at him wide-eyed.

"I would gladly do so!"

She smiled. There was safety in numbers.

Shadow teleported to the main floor of the club and made his way toward Rouge. She was easy to spot because she glowed so brightly.

"Where are the Chaotix?" He asked her.

"They got bounced," she grabbed his wrist and pulled him into a dance, "They pissed off MARI and she pulled out a giant gun."

"So she's not Asimovian."

"Why would any robot of Eggman's be? Then again she never intended to hurt them just scare them. Her finger never touched the trigger." Rouge clasped her fingers with Shadow's and moved a kandi bracelet from her wrist to his. She hugged him briefly and then let go. "You look so naked without beads!"

"What is this, Mardi Gras?" Shadow looked over the beads.

"It's kandi!"

"Candy? This is cheap plastic pony beads."

"Kandi with a 'k'! Ravers give them to each other. They're treasured presents between friends. You're probably going to be given a lot tonight, too. Christmas spirit and all!" Rouge was shouting over the music.

"I thought you were making a fashion statement!"

"No, all this?" She gestured to herself. "Gifts from others. I go clubbing a lot!"

"I can tell. Maybe you should open your own club!" Shadow had to dance a bit to avoid being knocked over by partiers.

"Hey!" MARI shouted when she lowered the volume a bit. "Look who is here!" Some spotlights moved and focused on Eggman. Sheptilah was caught off-guard by all the attention of the dancers cheering. Rouge and Shadow had trouble seeing over the crowd given that they were so small. The bat flew up and saw the two Overlanders had came in together.

"Doctor Eggman!" MARI pumped a fist in the air. " _If you're alone tonight - can I be by your side?_ " MARI's words started to blend with the song's lyrics.

"Little rocket in the sky!" Some of the dancers sang along. Most were cheering only because MARI was.

 _"If you care for me -"_

 _"Why don't you come and give me some dignity, yeah?"_

 _"Some decency, yeah…"_

The words seemed to bounce off the walls.

After a few minutes Sheptilah relaxed and began to have some fun, though she was overwhelmed by all the alien lights and noises. She was delighted that some dancers came over and gave her kandi during some of the songs.

Feeling inspired, Sheptilah used her magic to add a bit more sparkle to the surroundings. Even the ends of her long pigtails glittered like they were dipped in starlight.

She bounced off to find Shadow, which wasn't difficult because she could sense where he was, and left Eggman alone. The man was a bit weary and shuffled off to rest at a bar stool.

"Little rocket in disguise… little rocket in the sky…" The song blended into a generic techno beat.

"Is that Shadow the Hedgehog?" MARI leaned over the deck. "It's Shadow the Hedgehog, baby!" The lights focused on the poor Mobian. Some of the dancers backed up out of the spotlight.

"Show us what you're made of!" The robot cackled. "Can the Ultimate Life Form dance?"

"Oh, no." The hedgehog's ears pointed backwards. _I'm going to kill that man_ , he thought.

The songs changed again and the guests gave Shadow a little space. The hedgehog felt hot under the lights and crossed his arms.

"Shadow!" Sheptilah bounced up to him. "I think the robot likes you."

"Tilly!" He was relieved to see her.

 _"Waratte ireru yo, baby, 'cause it's like, docchi wo tottemo-"_

"Aren't you having fun?" She frowned a bit.

"Not at the moment." He swallowed. He noticed she had a bunch of bracelets now.

She touched the top of his head and the stripes on his spines began to sparkle. He could faintly hear Rouge cackling from above them. The bat was flying around the air doing loops.

"Get into the groove! Did I say that right?" The witch laughed, "I'm having the time of my life."

"I'm glad one of us is having fu-" He was cut off when she pulled him by the hand and spun him.

"When the spotlight is on you, you are supposed to dance! Don't disappoint everyone," she chuckled.

"Aw, is the little hedgehog scared?" MARI teased him. "You can deadlift a thousand pounds of weight but you can't boogie?"

"I'm not buying into your hype," He pointed a gloved finger at the robot.

"I knew it! The Ultimate Life Form is a weenie." She laughed behind a gloved hand.

"I'm no weenie! Back up." He motioned for Sheptilah to scoot to the side. She did so, giving him space.

 _"Let me hit you with the ryuusei sound; this is how it goes down…"_

With his hands on his hips he tapped his foot, getting into the beat. After a moment he loosened up and started to break dance - all moves he learned from watching Sonic.

"That's my familiar!" Sheptilah cheerfully shouted. "Do you see- oh!" Sheptilah was surprised when she turned to see Eggman had walked up to her, shaking his hips.

"Look at him go," he laughed, "I told MARI if she insulted him enough he'd start dancing."

Sheptilah grinned.

"Wow!" The deejay grinned. She couldn't wait to put that footage on her blog. Shadow stood and crossed his arms proudly. The dancers around him cheered and tried to give him bracelets but he refused; a major faux pas. Eventually he gave in and let them give him some but didn't hug them in return.

Espio snuck back into the club at some point and looked for Eggman. When he found him he stood next to the man invisibly and observed.

Eggman shook his head. "I see you got some kandi, Tilly!" He shook his wrist, he only had one; Rouge gave him a pity kandi.

Sheptilah scoffed and took his hand. She slipped a bracelet off of her wrist onto his, but struggled a little over his meaty hand.

"There! Now you got one from me." She smiled as she hugged him.

 _"Like raindrops... from the... desert... sky…"_

"Pick a decade or genre, MARI. She's been bouncing around. She's playing SNBRN now but she just got done with something else entirely. I don't know why she mixes like that. Maybe I should tweak her code-" The embrace interrupted him.

 _"For you I've been waiting…"_

He was surprised by the hug. "Thank you," he looked at the bracelet. The pony beads spelled the word PLUR. "Peace, love, unity, respect. I think that's what the letters mean."

 _"Like seeing stars and endless nights…"_

The woman shrugged and broke the embrace. He almost wish she didn't let go. The next song was slower and more intimate.

"What was the hug for?"

 _"Can we stay like this forever?"_

"It's just what they do after they move kandi around," her pigtails swished back and forth as she swayed to the music. "Thanks for the tickets. I'm glad I came out tonight." She stopped moving after a moment and frowned. She suddenly remembered her troubles.

 _"Come a little bit closer … a little bit closer… oh, we go together..."_

"I found out that we also share happiness," he gently placed his finger under her chin and lightly pushed it upward. "Not just pain."

 _"Bring me out from the under… come a little bit closer…"_

"So?" She furrowed her brows.

"So be happy." For once he had a genuine smile. He brushed some loose hairs out of her face with the tips of his fingers. "Doesn't it feel good?" He took hold of her and resumed dancing.

Her eyes widened a bit and her cheeks became flushed. For a moment it was like they were alone. She felt her chest twinge.

They swayed back and forth to the beat, bright lights beaming down on them in colorful shapes making it appear as if they existed in an aurora borealis. The way his nose scrunched up when he genuinely smiled was cute to her.

They laughed together when she did a twist and a pigtail lightly slapped her in the face. He responded by gingerly moving the hair out of her eyes. Then and there she felt a spark between them. All it took was a gentle, gloved touch.

"I think we need to invest in getting you headbands. You have little baby hairs that get in your way."

She laughed awkwardly. "Ah … yeah that was part of why I wore the circlet." She avoided eye contact, cheeks reddening.

"I don't have that problem." He ran his hand over his bald head and wiggled his eyebrows. "Doesn't it drive you crazy?"

" _You_ drive me crazy," she laughed a little loudly, "My hair I can deal with."

 _I suppose,_ she thought, _he's got potential._

 _Uh oh, she panicked. Oh, no. Oh, no; oh, no!_ She covered her Oracle Stone with her hand. _Is this your doing!?_ She wondered. _Are you forcing me into this with the dumb bond?!_

Eggman leaned in and whispered something to her. "I have a confession."

 _Oh, no._ Her mouth became a tight line.

"You're my only friend. Please don't die on me." He sounded almost sad. Possibly heartbroken.

 _Was he still upset because of what Shadow said earlier?_

"I thought you said I wouldn't want to be your friend."

"Ah, well." He pulled back and shrugged. "That ship has sailed. We should go back up to the loft. I'm feeling hungry and we serve food up there. We got French fries." He remembered how much she loved them. He also wanted to sit down since his feet were starting to hurt.

"Oh! Fries… I could go for some." She actually was feeling peckish. The change of subject was also nice.


	36. Save Tonight

The robot bartender already had drinks and snacks prepared up in the VIP loft. Sheptilah was absolutely enchanted with the concept of cheese being gooey at room temperature. The fact it was drizzled over crisp, hot fries was just decadent.

Espio stood invisibly and unknown at a decent distance away and listened in. However, like with Shadow, the stone didn't translate the witch's words for him.

"I keep thinking about that ship we saw." She very carefully dipped a fry into the cheese. "Should we, y'know, go back and burn it?"

"Why would we do that?" He thought about how the stone took over and saved them. He started to wonder that the deal was with it. He gave the stone a sideways glance.

"You can't just leave the dead like that. You need to do something with them. At least alert their families or something."

"Sometimes it's better to just leave the dead where they are." He sighed deeply.

"I still have the diary. It's in my headspace." She chewed on the fry absentmindedly.

There was an awkward silence.

"Does killing people get easier the more you do it?" His voice was quiet.

Sheptilah nearly choked on her fry. After a cough she swallowed and straightened up.

"Witches and familiars tend to have one or two things they're really good at. Mine is healing others and flight." She inhaled sharply. "All I wanted to do was fly around and make people better. I wasn't allowed to do that; I had to be a queen and chop the heads off of criminals. It didn't get easier- I just got used to it."

"Well at least now I know you weren't actually kidding when you said you'd behead me." He smiled uneasily. Espio furrowed unseen eyebrows.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "Nah. I'm not going to do that to my only adult friend."

His cheeks grew warm. "Well, at least you're more comfortable around me."

Espio watched carefully. He hated only getting half of the conversation and wondered why, if Eggman spoke this foreign language fluently, was he talking in English?

"But I suppose eight or nine days together saving each other from varied eldritch abominations will bring people closer, I guess." Eggman admitted.

But how close?

"I think I'm going to go and build my own little place on the island. I'll need the space to work on the scepter, too. Maybe I can make more friends while I'm at it. There were some cute people on the dance floor I'm interested in."

"One thing you probably shouldn't do when you're out alone is shapeshift on people. You'll scare the shit out of them." He took a sip of his martini. The bartender robot rolled its eyes.

She lifted up her head and looked at him with feigned surprise. Truly his condescending 'advice' was unnecessary. She is an adult and knows how to behave among the non-magical. She suddenly shapeshifted a second pair of arms and wiggled all twenty fingers at him.

"Why would this scare anyone? Or this?" She shifted a third pair of arms and now resembled a spider woman.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, creepy spider girl." He playfully shook one of her hands.

"Creepy? Whatever are you talking about?" Her arms were doing different things. One set was straightening her pigtails, another was moving the food around and the last pair had hands in her lap demurely. "It comes in handy when doing a very complex hairstyle. Not that you would know."

Espio was making a mental note to not antagonize this woman or she may tickle him to death.

"I am not bald! I actually shave my scalp," he ran his hand over it, "I think I look quite attractive. It's a bold statement; I want my mustache to be the center of attention."

"Maybe your head is the giant pearl I'm supposed to use in the scepter. It's so round and shiny." She brought up her main hands and created an image of the scepter but with Eggman's head as the jewel. "I imagine you would yell at me the whole time when using it." The mouth on the figment moved as if it was angrily shouting displeasure.

She dispelled the illusion and the extra arms.

"Speaking of the pearl - we should probably go grab that first. The ruins of the park where it's located are in the Basque region. You probably remember it as Iberia or Gaul. Today it's the space between France and Spain."

Sheptilah shook her head and smiled. "Are you talking about the countries above and to the far left of where I'm from?"

"Yes." He nodded.

"Why would you put anything out there?" She rested her elbow on the bar and her chin on her palm.

"I have a lot of ruins and scrap heaps scattered all over the planet. Makes it easier to have them left alone."

"Sir, it's midnight." The robot spoke to its master.

"Oh! Look at that. It's Christmas eve. I'm sure you don't care, though. I know I don't." Eggman shrugged.

"I care if you care. Since you don't, I don't care." She ate more fries.

Eggman finished his drink and set the martini glass down. Before the bartender could take it Sheptilah picked it up and crushed it in her hand. She then formed it into a marble and healed herself. Not one drop of blood or shard of glass hit the counter.

"Say my name three times while you squeeze this and I will be summoned. Don't abuse it."

"Oh!" He carefully took it. "This is a witch orb?"

"Yes. For emergencies only. I'm serious." She gave him a pointed look.

It was nothing more than a tiny marble with a string of blood in the center. He slipped it into his pocket for safekeeping.

"Could you have done that without crushing the glass in your hands?"

"Sure, but it's less dramatic. I like to remind people I'm not so fragile." She giggled. "Hey. Thanks for inviting us out here with the tickets and all. It's been good to forget about everything at least for one night."

Eggman turned to her and leaned his elbow on the bar. " _Nin_ Sheptilah," he said, "Miss Banana- try to keep it together when we go."

She blushed when he used her language. "Who taught you that word?" MARI was mostly correct. _Nin_ is closer to the word 'lady' than it was 'queen'. To Sheptilah in this context it was like hearing the word 'honey' as a term of endearment.

"I picked it up listening to you." He lied.

"Do you want to learn some dirty Nannaeic words?" She grinned mischievously.

"Absolutely."

" _Skheid_ ," she chuckled, "Shit! _Merda_ is another way to say it."

"Off to a roaring start. _Merda?_ That's Latin. _Et Latine loquimur_."

" _Scitis enim linguam?_ "

" _Certe!_ "

She clapped her hands together. " _Magna!_ "

"It's the root language for most modern languages spoken in this hemisphere. It's also one half of the root language for English; the other half is Germanic."

"First you are descended from the Hebrews, which by the way brought manna to the ziggurat so thank you for that, now you reveal that you speak a very ancient language. How old are you, really?" She did find great comfort in the fact that many things still have not changed. She was confident she would fit into this century just fine.

"I'll have you know I am forty-six years old," he smiled, "And full of surprises."

Espio silently left the room to go rejoin the rest of the Chaotix with the information he gathered.

* * *

"I _heard_ there was a new Egg Boss." Vector was sitting in his chair with his feet on his desk. "I don't like it."

"It's good to know that I was right about the Stratosphere Club being parts of the Starlight Carnival but I wasn't expecting the boss to be an _Overlander_." Espio leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "She's also involved with GUN for some reason. Maybe we should ask Sonic about it since Eggman's lair is on his island."

"Another magic using Overlander; because Regina wasn't more than enough trouble." Vector leaned back, the chair creaking under the strain.

"This Overlander has killed people according to Doctor Eggman himself," Espio grunted, "She was sad about it but I don't know what she was saying. She was speaking some foreign language the whole time so I only understood the Doctor's half of the conversation.

"She doesn't sound nice; killing people is mean and wrong." Charmy walked in holding a cold soda. He wasn't wrong but the statement certainly reflected his innocence.

"Most people involved with GUN have killed." Vector shrugged, "It's an unfortunate side effect of working for the military."

"Eggman said that they were going to go to the Basque region of Eurish… the spot between France and Spain. There's something important there they need to get." The chameleon tapped his foot impatiently.

"We should go to Seaside Island, interrogate Sonic and his friends and investigate the Overlanders for information!" Vector sat up abruptly.

"It's not like we have anything else to do…" Espio scratched his cheek.

"Ooh, are we going to see Sonic!?" Charmy hovered by flapping his wings at a super speed, "I'll pack the sunscreen!"


	37. Heart Of Glass

To say the way Eggman wrote his notes is messy is an understatement. He writes his thoughts as they come to him word-for-word and very sloppily. Sometimes he spends hours just trying to organize his notes later. He keeps lying to himself that one day he will write a program that will sort out his thoughts.

 **SCHEPTILLAH DOSSIER [rough draft]** started 12/18

5' 10'' female Overlander, 120ish lbs, 5,000+ years old, relies on magic for communication

I have a feeling I'm misspelling her name in Romanization. Too much white hair. Why is it white? Is it because she's so old? Skin is pale but not so pale as to be confused for a white person [would she be Persian by today's standards? Maybe get a dna test]

Overly affectionate, openly suicidal, reckless, what's going on here

Possibly BPD [?]

Maybe it's spelled Cheptilah?

Actually maybe not, online symptom checker suggests ptsd instead

She challenged all the eggbosses to a fight one after the other and nearly got us both killed but impressively enough she made it all the way to nepthys! She still can't fight for shit. What does that say about my bosses?!

/ IT SAYS THEY SUCK / - MARI

Despite the fact that when she bathes she doesn't use soap but doesn't smell bad. Doesn't smell like anything, actually. Runs the water too damn hot. Ever hear of boiled bananas?

I think that oracle stone or whatever is its own thing and isn't just an inanimate object

/ EXCUSE ME, I SUGGESTED THAT / - MARI

Phonetically it is Shep-til-ah, so maybe Sheptilah from now on. Some of the mobians call her Tilly so I will just use that

Purple eyes? Possibly blue-eyed but it's so pale it turns purple because of the blood vessels under the iris

Mari says she understands some of her language and is trying to compile a small dictionary but it looks like it's bits and pieces

Shadow the hedgehog is her familiar; not like a pet but like bound at the soul? They share powers, i think

Please stop crying you're an adult

Cannot use chaos emeralds. Touching them burns her severely.

So then maybe they can't share powers

We share nightmares sometimes. Looks like shadow connected too and tried to force her to wake up but no go

I found out today that we share sadness and happiness and pain, but nothing else. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. She also cannot dance well but that doesn't seem to stop her

Subconsciously shape=shifts fangs when she's trying to be threatening, doesn't work. She looks like a kitten trying to be scary

She made shadow sparkly for a while that made my week too bad the glamor didn't show up in photos or recorded video i could've used that kind of blackmail

SHE SPEAKS LATIN. WE HAVE A COMMON LANGUAGE. Maybe now we can get somewhere over digital lines

/ THIS IS GOOD NEWS FOR ME, TOO. / - MARI

I'm thinking about how I had to hold her leg closed at the ziggurat. That was some bullshit, honestly. How is she supposed to survive in this century with such a bad iron allergy? Everything is iron or steel. Maybe it's a good thing her people thought ahead to bond her with whomever found her. Then again, everything I do and have involves steel.

My robots, computers, my lair… no wonder she doesn't want to stick around me for too long. I thought it was my personality. She keeps wandering around the lair, her bare feet making a papping sound on the floor.

She dragged me into the pool - I was so grateful I had the foresight to put on my swimsuit first. If I find a massive amount of hair in the pool drain I'll know it was her.

/ WE BOTH KNOW IF YOU FIND ANY HAIR IN THE POOL IT'S HER FAULT. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE EYEBROWS. ARE YOU SURE YOU'RE A MAMMAL? PROVE THE MUSTACHE ISN'T GLUED ON / - MARI

Sometimes she'll stop talking mid-sentence and forget what she was saying. I found her once crying in a closet. I don't think she knows I was outside of it, but i just walked away.

This whole situation is a mess. MARI says I should call it a 'shit-uation'.

/ I DO CALL IT A SHIT-UATION. HERE IS THE NANNAEIC-TO-ENGLISH GLOSSARY I PROMISED:

Nin: Queen, lady

Sheptilah: Banana

Pâdu: Prisoner

Khabu: To love

Anbar: Iron, steel

Eseru: To imprison

Wardum: Slave

Mušēzibu: Savior, hero [When she is happy she refers to you with this word. She's only said this once.]

Dominuz / Dominus: Slaver, slave owner [When she is angry she refers to you as this]

Hebat: Sky spirit, flying spirit

Asu / Azu: Doctor

Lapis Oraculi: Oracle Stone

Dammu: Blood

Nisiqtu: - Precious [Sometimes she refers to Shadow with this term]

Aabba: [no, not the _MAMA MIA_ kind], Sea, ocean

Note: some of these words are Latin, Akkadian and Sumerian. I cannot identify Nannaeic as nobody has translated any of their _very few_ cuneiform tablets that have been recovered over time. I suggest you take her to a museum to translate them for our purposes. / - MARI

* * *

"Amy! Just the hedgehog I wanted to see!" Sheptilah was still in her clubbing clothes when she ran up to her friend on the beach. Amy was picking up trash left along the shore and putting it into a garbage bag.

"Why are you wearing boots on the beach?" The pink hedgehog raised an eyebrow.

"What? Oh this is basically the only civilian clothes I have." She snapped her fingers and transformed back into her usual sarong. "Anyway, I was hoping to ask you for some advice. I want to build myself a little home around here but I have no idea what your local customs or laws are."

"You just need a permit from the mayor; but today is a holiday so nobody is in city hall." Amy smiled. "Want to help me clean up the beach?"

"Sure," Tilly huffed, "But stay away from the water. It's dangerous for now."

"The ocean is always dangerous. It can, at any point, come and swallow you whole and nobody would ever find you again. Undertows, rogue waves, tsunamis…" Amy shuffled the bag to make more room for trash. "Sharks."

"You kids are grim but you aren't wrong." With a flick of her wrist Sheptilah was able to pick up all the remaining trash she could see and directed it into the plastic bag Amy was holding. "If it's a holiday, why are you out here cleaning?"

"We're having our Christmas party out here. We stay up all night, weather permitting, and exchange gifts." Amy tied the bag shut. "Thanks for making the clean up easy."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner."

"Why do you want to build a house out here?" Amy walked toward a nearby trashcan and motioned for the woman to follow her.

"I can't be too far away from the Doctor and making the staff takes a long time and I need to be able to sit and watch the pot boil, so to speak." The cold sand felt nice on her bare feet.

"I don't see why the mayor won't give you a plot of land," the pink hedgehog hesitated, "Do you think… you would need an apprentice to help you?"

"That's what my familiar is for." Sheptilah brushed her hair behind her ear.

"No, I mean like, a witch's apprentice." Amy's cheeks got pinker in color.

"I probably can use all the help I can find. Would... _you_ like to be my apprentice?"

Amy gasped softly. "I would be honored! A _real_ witch!" She bounced on the soles of her feet. "I know where to start, too!"

The Overlander couldn't help but smile. "Don't hurt yourself."

"You have five thousand years of magic to catch up on, first! There's Eurish alchemy and tarot cards, the Salem grimoires, Aleister Crowley, daemonologie, for starters!" Amy grabbed Sheptilah's hand and started jogging toward her house, "I think you even predate the Egyptian Book Of The Dead."

"I _don't_ predate the Book Of The Dead." Sheptilah tried to keep up with the hedgehog but Amy was quite fast for someone so little. "It was sort of a new thing when I was born… wait, hold on."

Amy stopped in her tracks and looked back at the woman.

"I have to go with Eggman to get the giant pearl at the Aquarium Park ruins today. We're leaving whenever he summons me." She shrugged.

"Well… can I go with you? I can teach you stuff along the way!" Amy was very eager to get started on learning the old stuff after refreshing Sheptilah on the new stuff.

"I don't know," she scratched the back of her head, "I don't think Doctor Eggman likes you very much and it might be dangerous."

"Oh, please," Amy smirked and summoned her hammer, "I can protect myself."

"Oh, dear…" Tilly chuckled nervously. "I assume you never take no for an answer."

"Only rarely!" She effortlessly supported the hammer across her shoulders. "This is Piko Piko."

"What's it made of?" She sounded hesitant and fearful.

"Solid steel."

"Gods help me."

 _What the Hell are Mobians made of, anyway?_

Sheptilah went back into the lair to see if Eggman was still napping or preparing to leave for the ruins of the Aquarium Park. Orbot and Cubot were preparing lunch for him in the kitchen.

"Where... Eggman?" She said in halting English.

Orbot turned to her and pointed downwards.

 _Ah, he is in the lab_ , she thought. She gave a thumbs up to the robots and meandered toward the stairwell. Her bare feet made little noise as she quietly checked each floor, which had its own lab, for the only other Overlander on the island.

A soft melody drifted up, echoing off of the metal walls. Sheptilah followed the sound and quickened her pace. The music was sad and slow as if the instrument was in pain.

It got louder as she got closer but soon a familiar voice followed behind the words like a ghost trailing the same path it traced for centuries- undisturbed by the objects in its path as it passed right through them.

Although Sheptilah couldn't understand the words from the distance, she understood that it was melancholic.

 _"I heard there was a secret chord that David played and it pleased the Lord; but you don't really care for music, do you?"_

She approached ever closer to the source gingerly as if her moving through the voice could break it.

 _"It goes like this: the fourth, the fifth,"_

 _"The minor fall and the major lift,"_

 _"The baffled king composing hallelujah…"_

She exited the stairwell as silently as she could, closing the door behind her. The long, lonely hallway was like a gateway to a mausoleum.

Sheptilah was nervous as she walked the empty hallway to the room on the far end. It was a large, well-lit room that contained nothing but a large black piano.

 _"I used to live alone before I knew you…"_

Eggman was hunched over the keys with his back to the open door. Sheptilah crossed her arms and leaned against the doorway simply listening and smiling. Now that she was near enough the stone could translate what he was saying and her smile gradually became a frown.

At first Ivo was gently tapping the keys but soon was forcefully bringing his fingers down on them.

" _It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not someone who's seen the light,"_ he inhaled sharply as if he was hit with something, _"It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah…"_ The words tumbled out over his tongue and past his lips like they were rats escaping a sinking vessel.

A song about love and loss, she understood, one that was every bit as painful to hear as it was to play. Her face grew warm and her eyes stung.

" _Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…_ "

Her lips parted and trembled as she struggled to fight back tears. She was feeling the full force of what _he_ was feeling for once and it was a great deal of suffering.

"Halle-" He stopped abruptly. His hands hovered over the keys, hesitant to continue. He sensed her presence and knew she was watching.

"Sheptilah," he did not turn around, "What is it you need from me?"

Good question.

"I'm sorry," she rubbed her eye with her fist, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Her breath hitched, trying to kick the rock from her throat. "The kids wanted to invite you to their Christmas thing tonight."

"We're leaving for the Aquarium Park ruins _tonight_ , aren't we?" He straightened up his posture.

"Well, that's up to you." She stepped into the room. "I understand if you don't want to go to the party."

He paused for a second and then sighed.

"Sit with me for a moment." He scooted over on the piano bench and began to play a slower, more plodding melody. The first few chords played as if it was someone working up the courage to say what they were truly feeling, each word harder to speak than the last.

"You might like this one. It's _Clair De Lune_ , or _Moonlight_ in French. It was composed to compliment a poem by the same name. I haven't had to recite it since high school but I remember most of it." He cleared his throat.

Sheptilah reluctantly approached him and sat beside him with her hands in her lap.

"Your soul is a delicate landscape," the stone translated literally, "Where charming rogues roam… something, something… " While Ivo forgot the entire poem he did not forget the notes. Soon his fingers were moving to meet the necessary allegri and adagio.

Sheptilah swayed back and forth to the tempo. He gave up trying to remember the words and focused on the music.

"I like this one much better than the other song you were playing," she sniffed, "Why were you feeling that bad?"

"Thinking about Lucinda." He said without looking up from the keys. "How did you find me?" He continued to play.

"I followed your voice down the stairwell."

"Funny, that's how I found _you_ ," he grinned, "Except it sounded like a ghoul wailing in pain."

"Was I _not_ a ghoul wailing in pain?" She shrugged.

"I think I'm going to pass on the furries' Christmas special, Tilly." He finished the piece.

"What instrument is this?"

"It's a piano," he dragged his fingers across the keys, "An original Steinway."

"How does it work?" She was afraid if she stopped talking certain feelings would come back.

"There's metal strings on the inside that are hit by little felt hammers when I press the keys. The inside is hollow so the sound echoes a bit."

"So it's similar to a harp," she scratched her chin, "I played one, but it was a lot larger than the piano. It was taller than you, some notes you had to jump to hit."

"One of these days I'd like to hear you play. MARI would love to learn some ancient music, I'm sure."

Tilly blushed. "I'd love to at some point."

"Can you sing?"

"Not to save my life," she laughed, "Okay, I can mask it with a glamour but that's about it. I was told once by Tiamatu that I sound like a dying cat."

Eggman grinned, "I won't ask you to sing, then. I came down here to play because music calms me. When I have trouble building things or making blueprints I simply come back to the piano and play a little. Helps me clear my head."

Orbot and Cubot appeared with lunch for Eggman and some fruit for the woman.

"This may be cannibalism," Orbot handed her a banana, "But it's delicious cannibalism."

Sheptilah held up the fruit between her fingers. "This is _cannibalism_ ," she shook the fruit at Eggman, "but I will gladly consume it, regardless."

Sonic and his friends had built a bonfire on the beach not far from Eggman's lair. They were singing and dancing around it and tossing balled-up wrapping paper into the flames. Sheptilah and Eggman were standing out at the door with supplies for the trip. It was going to be just the two of them.

Perhaps Amy wouldn't be too angry when Sheptilah got back, but she decided she didn't want to get the little girl in more danger than necessary.

"Look at them prancing around like Pagans at a feast." Eggman laughed.

"It's not too late to go down there." Tilly nudged the Overlander with her elbow.

"Uh, no," he adjusted the pack on his shoulder, "I'd rather spend ten hours in an airship with you and the bots than ten minutes with those kids."

"I'm so flattered," Tilly laughed, "Okay… I want to have a little fun with them first." She lifted a finger and traced a circle in the air. The fire extinguished on the logs, leaving the Mobians very confused.

Sonic re-lit the fire with a long match only to have it go out again.

Sheptilah was giggling. "See?"

Knuckles pushed Sonic back and yelled at the fire, demanding it come back. He believed he could do magic when the fire did light itself again and stayed lit.

"Well, you're not very good at pranking people are you?" Eggman grinned.

"I don't want to hurt them, they're just kids."

"They've been a pain in my ass for years." He huffed.

"And you've been a pain in _my_ ass for days!" She couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, let's go. Gaul is waiting."


	38. Escape From The City

"I'm the god of fire!" Knuckles shouted. "Bow before me!"

"You're not the god of anything," Sticks huffed, "I think a fairy is playing a trick on us."

"Maybe," Amy crossed her arms, "Maybe not." She watched Knuckles prance around the fire and couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm.

Just then there was a whoosh that nearly put the fire out once again. Conveniently, the Chaotix appeared nearby by use of a warp ring.

"I told you we took a wrong turn! We needed to go left at the Cracker Barrel- Oh! Sonic!" Vector shouted.

"What brings you out here?" The blue hedgehog chuckled. "Merry Christmas, guys."

"Merry Christmas!" Charmy Bee shouted. "We're here to interrogate you!"

"If it's about the witch she's over at Eggman's lair." Sonic sat back down in the sand and strummed his guitar. "I think. That or she's at GUN with Shadow and Rouge. She kinda bounces between places."

"How did you know?" Espio curled up his tail.

"Rouge texted me that you guys got bounced out of the club and thought it was hilarious- and that you saw Eggman there. It was only a matter of time before you started asking about his Overlander friend." Sonic was _not_ stupid, contrary to popular belief.

"They're headed for Spain," Vector put the warp ring away, "Looking for some giant pearl or something like that."

"Sheptilah said she'd come and get me when they were leaving. I volunteered to be her apprentice and she accepted!"

"Then _why_ is an airship leaving?" Charmy pointed to the lair across the water. A small Egg Carrier emerged from behind it and flew off at breakneck speed.

Amy stomped her foot. "She left without me! I have a present for her, too!"

"Vector, we can beat them there with the warp ring." Espio nodded.

"Is that such a good idea? They're just going to the Aquarium Park ruins." Sonic shrugged.

"I acquired some intel from them earlier when they didn't know I was in the room. We want to conduct our own independent investigation on them." The chameleon shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I don't trust any Egg Bosses."

"She's not really a Boss," Amy explained, "They're just manipulating the other bosses into helping."

"No offense but after the Soumerca base incident I wanna avoid going anywhere with her." Sonic coughed.

"And then that nonsense at the ziggurat," Tails wagged his tails nervously, "I heard things, unholy things, went down over there."

"I would avoid going after them, period." Sticks butted in, "You can't trust a fairy!"

"Is she a fairy or a witch?" Vector was confused. "I thought you said she was a witch." He looked at Espio.

"She didn't have wings." Espio shrugged.

"I have wings and I'm not a fairy," Charmy pouted, "But it would be cool if I was one…"

"She's a wairy! A fitch?" Knuckles scratched his head. "A chairy! Wait…"

* * *

"Lady and gentleman, I am proud to welcome you aboard Eggman Airlines. Please remember Eggman Industries is not responsible for damaged items or loss of life during the trip." MARI's sarcastic voice filled the cabin, "Keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times. We're going to Ibiza!"

"MARI, _don't you dare_." Eggman threatened the bodiless entity as he shoved some things into an overhead compartment. It was a small ship but it was big enough for the two Overlanders and the little robots in compact mode.

"Woah! We're going to Ibiza!" MARI began to sing along to the VengaBoys song. "We're gonna have a party!"

"MARI, I will walk back into my lair and unplug you right now!" That song irritated him to no end.

"Ee-oh ee-oh oh way-oh oh way-oh... " The AI teased, "Thank you for flying Eggman Airways…" She giggled.

"Ibiza?" Sheptilah laughed. "Uh…"

"No, we're not going to Ibiza," the man huffed, "Ibiza is an island off the coast of Spain. MARI is just pushing my buttons."

" _Nin_ Sheptilah," MARI spoke, " _D'jen mi_?"

"Huh?" Tilly looked at Eggman, eyebrow raised. "Why is your robot calling me sweetie?"

" _Nin_ means sweetie?"

"No, uh, in this context it's like infantilizing, my name comes first. It is properly said as 'Sheptilah _nin_ '. So it's like calling me 'little girl' or 'sweetie'."

"MARI, don't try talking to her for a while." Eggman buckled himself in. "In fact... MARI, shut down for the ride."

"Goodbye…" MARI said and did not speak again.

Eggman took off with great speed, forcing the woman to yelp. He couldn't help but laugh at her reaction.

"Shadow is going to kill me when he finds out I did this without his supervision." Her knuckles were white from gripping the armrests so hard.

"You're an adult; you don't need supervision."

"This is true," she let go of the armrests, "But still, they don't like us being alone together. They think I'm going to let you indoctrinate me. Then again, you did put a mind control thing into the crown you so warmly gifted- so maybe they have a point."

He choked. "You knew about it?"

"Mhm, that's why the crown was conveniently 'lost' at the North Pole."

"I was taking precautions." He set the ship to autopilot so he could sit back and relax a bit.

"You moron- we're bonded. If you had rendered me unable to function you would've done the same to yourself! How many times do I have to go through this with you? You have to treat me like you'd treat yourself!"

"You have to treat me like you'd treat yourself," he mocked, "Oh, please. You don't want me to treat you like I treat myself. I haven't so much as _looked_ at a vegetable in years."

She snapped her fingers and changed into her Egg Boss uniform sans the jacket. She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'll never get used to all the iron."

"Headache? It's probably from the change in air pressure. Just pop your ears."

"No," she sighed, "It even makes my teeth hurt. It's all the iron."

"I'm sorry," he actually apologized, "Maybe enough exposure to it will build up a tolerance."

"I hope so."

The silence between them was weird, they both felt the urge to fill it with their voices but neither of them wanted to initiate.

After about ten minutes of uncomfortable quiet Eggman finally asked the loaded question.

"Is your Oracle Stone alive?"

" _What?_ "

"Is that rock on your chest alive? Like, is it its own thing?"

"No, it's just my stone. It's not alive," she tapped it with her fingernail, "Solid magic rock."

"... Sometimes," he paused, "Sometimes it seems like it's talking to us when it takes over."

"That's my subconscious talking to you, sort of like sleep-talking; but it can't tell you anything I don't already know. When it takes over it's pure instinct."

"Ah," he laughed, "I was a little worried you were actually two things and not just one."

"I am two things," she held up two fingers apart and then brought them together, "Me and my familiar make one complete being."

"You know what I meant." he stuck out his tongue.

It was a long flight, but not quite as long as Sheptilah expected it to be. They killed time by playing cards together.

"Got any threes?" Eggman looked up from his hand.

"Go fish?" Sheptilah was having a hard time remembering the rules and remembering what symbols meant what numbers. Thankfully, she could count the number of suits on each card. "Wait, here's one." She handed the three of spades to him.

"A-ha! I win!" He laid out the final cards across the small table and grinned widely. He had most of the cards whereas Sheptilah didn't and this was the fifth time he won in a row.

"Ah, you're cheating!"

"How could someone cheat at go fish?"

"You're _the_ Doctor Eggman- you could probably cheat at solitaire. Well, at least when it's just us I know you're not raising any Hell so I'll gladly play again."

"I'm actually getting bored. We should eat." He pulled a small bag out from under his seat and handed it to her. "I quickly put together something for you yesterday."

"What is it?"

"Calorie-dense foods. Typically this is for people who are ill or very old, but since you are sort of both you can bulk back up to where you're supposed to be."

She unzipped the bag. Inside were dried dates, trail mix, bottles of weight-gain smoothies and other goodies.

"For your height, which is five-foot-ten, your ideal healthy weight is somewhere around one-hundred-and-fifty. You're currently at one-twenty-five, if we're not counting your three pounds of hair."

"Twenty-five pounds, huh?" She tried to imagine herself as being a little heavier, "Are you sure that's enough?"

"Give or take," he shrugged, "I'm not a nutritionist but I can see your ribs. Doesn't take someone with a degree in medicine to tell you that's probably not healthy for someone your height."

She ran her fingers up and down her ribs, feeling the ridges. "Yeah, you're right." She opened a bag of dates and chewed on one wrinkled fruit. "Why are you being nice?"

"You ate an entire head of lettuce the other day. I was disturbed." He grinned. In reality, he kind of liked having someone to talk to and care for a little.

"You're a bad liar," she smirked, "You _like_ me."

"And you like _me_ ," he looked over the rim of his glasses at her, ruby irises peeking out, "You haven't threatened to kill me once today."

"Mmm," she swallowed her food, "You're right." Her phone chimed. She pulled it from her pocket and unlocked the screen.

"Oh," she placed the phone on the table, "Can you read the message for me?"

Eggman carefully picked up the phone and looked at it.

 **[Shadow]** Where are you?

 **[Shadow]** Nobody is answering the door at the lair.

"He wants to know where you are."

"Tell him," she urged.

 **[Banana]** This is Eggman. She's on an Egg Carrier with me.

 **[Banana]** We're going to retrieve the pearl.

 **[Shadow]** Without telling me?

 **[Banana]** It's not going to take that long.

 **[Shadow]** Eggman.

 **[Banana]** What?

 **[Shadow]** _Shadow is typing…_

"It says he's been typing for three minutes now. Is he sending me a dissertation?" Eggman pouted. "He must be angry."

 **[Shadow]** Fine. Don't die.

"He says don't die." He handed the phone back to Tilly.

She sighed. "I think he's secretly relieved he doesn't have to spend more time with you." She slipped the phone back into her pocket and leaned back.

"Honestly I'd rather be with you than at GUN; at least you don't have an armed guard escort me all over the place."

"I _am_ the armed guard." He pulled out a bag of beef jerky for himself.

"It's a little red fox named Apollo. He's my assigned chaperone or something, I guess. Both iron fortresses are on islands by the sea but yours at least has a garden. Orbot and Cubot are also really cute."

She finished off the bag of dates and opened the little plastic container with the drink in it.

For the first time in her life she tasted chocolate.

"Whatever this is, it's amazing!" She guzzled the shake down, stars in her eyes.

"You've never had chocolate?"

"No!"

"You poor woman."

* * *

Vector bid the group goodbye and brought his warp ring out. "Let's hope we don't get lost in France like last time."

Charmy and Espio jumped into the ring. Amy dove in after them without getting permission. Before any of them could react the warp ring had closed.

The Aquarium Park ruins were just that: ruins. Scaffolding and shattered glass filled the small, uninhabited city-sized dump, jutting dangerously outward just begging for someone to fall onto it. It was obvious some time was spent breaking down the buildings and rides to recycle the parts, but then abandoned later for other endeavors.

Rusted out remains of Egg Pawns and Crabmeats lay strewn about haphazardly.

Eggman and Sheptilah had landed not far from the Chaotix's location and prepared to disembark. He handed her a hard hat and work gloves to wear. He put on his own set of gloves and hard hat.

"Safety first! Try not to get impaled on anything this time." He remembered the incident back at the ziggurat. _Damn, this woman gets eviscerated a lot_ , he thought. _Like, a lot._

"I just ate a bunch of food," she adjusted her backpack, "I'm gonna do my best to keep it on the inside."

"I hear voices!" Charmy shouted. He flew up over the rubble and spotted Eggman and Sheptilah's Egg Carrier. He pointed to their location. "There they are!"

"You've gotta be shitting me." Eggman sighed. Squinting, he looked up and shaded his eyes with his hand. "Is that Charmy Bee? The Chaotix are here?"

Vector's imposing crocodile silhouette appeared over the edge of a pile of trash. "Yeah! We're here, and you've got some explaining to do, Eggman."


	39. Liberate

"How could you leave me behind?!" Amy trudged over the pile of garbage and pushed past Vector. "That's so mean!"

"Amy!" Sheptilah cried out. "As you can see it's dangerous as all Hell out here; what are you doing?"

"I'm coming to kick your butt for lying to me!" The pink hedgehog took out her hammer.

"You kids are not genre savvy, are you? We wanted to get this done as quickly as possible because if anything is gonna attack us it's usually at this part of the story." Eggman was shouting, his face red with anger. Orbot and Cubot floating nearby tried to calm him down, afraid he'd give himself a stroke.

"Leave. Now!" Sheptilah stepped up on the rubble and pushed Vector back. "Before I warp all of you back myself!"

"You are so rude!" Charmy flew up to the witch and stuck his tongue out at her.

"I'll show you rude!" She stepped back and tore open a portal to the island. "Step in or I will throw you in."

"Stop. There will be no fighting," Espio tried to calm them, "We've been lost out here for hours looking for them. We should just take this opportunity to-" The chameleon was cut off by Vector knocking him out of the way.

"We want to know what you're up to!" The crocodile roared. His breath was rancid. Sheptilah winced but did not look away.

"I already explained all of it," Amy leaned on her hammer, "You don't believe me?"

"I want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth." The crocodile peered down at the woman past his long snout.

"We're going to get a giant pearl and then we are getting the Hell out of Dodge," Eggman put a meaty hand on the witch's shoulder and pulled her back as he spoke, "And we're going to do it in one piece; whether you idiots bother us or not."

Sheptilah created a great gust of wind that picked up Amy along with the Chaotix and pushed them into the portal. She then closed it and beamed at Eggman.

Just then the group re-appeared with the use of a warp ring.

"You can't get rid of us that easily." Espio chuckled.

"So you're a queen." Vector huffed.

"Yes, I was a queen." Sheptilah was following behind Eggman who was using a map on his gauntlet to find the location of the grand hotel.

"And Shadow is your familiar."

"Yes."

"And Eggman is your guardian?"

"Yes!" Sheptilah was intensely annoyed by something but she couldn't put her finger on what. It was not the incessant questions from the crocodile but something far less tangible. Something about the area was pissing her off and making her hair stand on end. She shrugged it off and chalked it up to all of the raw iron laying about.

"So you are literally torn between two massive entities; both GUN and Eggman Industries." Espio butted in.

"Absolutely," Sheptilah nodded, "And that's why I am not in one place for long because it hurts to be separated; but it doesn't matter because I will always be away from one or the other."

"So sever the bond." Amy shrugged.

"GUN won't allow it and it's the only incentive they have to keep the good Doctor here from dying in a cell." The witch gestured toward the man.

"I am highly desired." He joked.

After walking among the rubble for what felt like hours, they finally came upon the remains of what was once a deluxe hotel. In the chandelier centerpiece was the giant pearl, just waiting for them. Orbot and Cubot were lamenting over how badly the place had decayed.

"It's perfect!" Sheptilah pulled the pearl free and tore open a portal to the lair, dropping the pearl at the door. "Are you going?" She asked the Chaotix.

"I guess we should." Vector looked over at the very sleepy Charmy floating beside him, rubbing his eyes. "We'll be keeping an eye on you, witch."

She sighed, letting her shoulders drop. "I have nothing to hide." She heard a chittering sound behind her. "Hm?" She turned to see it was an adorable little wisp. A drill wisp, to be exact. "Aw! You're cute."

"You should get out of here," it told her, "It's not safe here."

"Why is it not safe here?" She tilted her head. The wisp gestured to Eggman.

"I guess some of these wisps are still around," Eggman groaned, "I thought they were all released."

"This isn't a will-o-the-wisp." She seemingly ignored its warning, following it with her eyes as it bounced from side-to-side. "So what kind of wisp is it?"

"Little aliens I enslaved for their power."

"You _enslaved_ these little things? You are a monster."

"You're just figuring this out now?" He flashed a crooked smile.

Sheptilah rolled her eyes and then turned to the wisp. "Are you alone?"

"Don't let it touch you," Amy walked up to it, "You'll absorb its power and turn into a drill."

Something fell over and startled the wisp, causing it to flee to the nearby pink hedgehog and she absorbed its power. She immediately turned into a drill and dove straight for the ground, unable to control the direction she went in or for how long.

The building shook violently and collapsed on everyone near instantly.

Then there was the sound of coughing and debris settling.

"Groan if you're alive." Eggman choked.

"I cannot move my legs," Espio's voice sounded panicked, "I cannot see anything."

"Hold on." Sheptilah sat up. She made a will-o-the-wisp to light the way. They had evidently fallen into some kind of old tunnel with the debris blocking the way out. "You okay?" Tilly asked Eggman. He had a small cut on his scalp which she promptly healed.

"Yeah," he smiled, "Thanks."

" _Fuck_." The witch wiped the dust out of her eyes.

"Language! We say 'fudge' in this family." Charmy scolded her.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Tilly was embarrassed that she forgot the little bee child was there. "Well, we know Charmy is okay."

"Aah!" There was a distant scream followed by a heavy thud and the sound of more rocks falling. It was Amy hitting a wall; evidently the wisp ran out of energy and escaped somewhere, leaving the hedgehog to fend for herself in the dark.

"Help, please." Espio's legs were trapped under a large chunk of scaffolding.

"Espio!" Vector cried. "I got you, buddy!" He hooked his fingers under the steel beam and strained to lift it.

"Don't move it!" Eggman shouted. "It might be the only thing keeping him alive. Look," he pointed to the pool of blood under Espio, "See that?"

"That's mine?" The chameleon sounded eerily calm. "I can't…"

"Hang on, buddy!" Charmy sobbed.

Amy trudged along the muddy ground in the dark toward the noises.

"Ivo, help Vector lift the beam. I can help Espio." Sheptilah nodded. She scooted over to the chameleon and lifted his head into her lap. His pupils were large and his breathing rapid but shallow.

"He's in shock from blood loss," Eggman stated the obvious, "What if his legs are no longer _connected?_ "

"I can put them back," she shrugged, "I've reattached limbs." She stroked the area around Espio's horn to make him fall asleep. She let his head rest on the ground and hooked her hands under his arms. "Now you can lift it. I'll pull him out."

The Overlander and the crocodile worked together to lift the beam. They strained against its weight but the two of them combined was just enough to get Espio free. Sheptilah pulled the chameleon out and was relieved to see his legs were still attached, but barely.

She magically drew up his blood and put it back into his body. She then healed him and felt for his heartbeat in his wrist: it was thready but it was there.

Eggman and Vector let the beam drop.

"He'll be okay; he just needs a little sleep." Sheptilah gave Eggman her pack to carry and picked Espio up, carrying him on her back. "Oh gods he weighs more than Shadow does." She sighed. "Seriously, what are you kids made of?"

"My mom said I was made of honey and love," Charmy buzzed over to the witch and hugged her face, "Thank you for saving my friend!"

"Aw, it's my job." Tilly giggled. "Okay, okay! You're gonna rub my skin off."

"Yeah, thanks." Vector peered at her suspiciously. "Why did _you_ help?" He asked Eggman.

"Because Miss Witch asked me to." He shrugged.

"Where's Amy?" Vector heard someone vomit further away, "I think that's her."

"Ow, I'm so dizzy." The hedgehog coughed. "What happened?"

"You turned into a drill and now we're under the junk heap in a tunnel," Eggman sounded annoyed, "Also the chameleon almost died."

"What?" Amy choked. "Is he okay?"

"He'll be ok," Sheptilah nodded. "You okay?"

The hedgehog nodded. She was physically okay but emotionally she was wracked with guilt.

"Tilly, open a portal so we can go home." The Overlander looked around. "Where's Orbot and Cubot?!"

"Boss! We're back here behind the rubble." Orbot yelled. "Can you see us?" He pushed a rock out of the way and peered outside. The group could see his little blue eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Where's Cubot?" Eggman looked at the trash pile and knew he couldn't get them free without everything collapsing on them.

"I'm over here." The little yellow bot chirped.

"Ivo? I can't get any knots open. I feel there's some but they won't open." It was not budging whatsoever.

"Why not?" Vector took Espio from the woman. He didn't trust her not to drop him.

"Hey," Amy felt the walls, "Bring that will-o-the-wisp closer."

Tilly pushed the wisp forward. The walls revealed anti-witchcraft runes etched in them.

"Where are we?" Charmy flew behind Vector. "So creepy."

"Oh my gods, this is a necropolis." Sheptilah pulled Amy closer. "This is why I was freaking out so much earlier. I was reacting to the runes under my feet."

"Necropolis? Like catacombs?" Vector sounded fearful, "Like… lots of dead bodies?"

"We're between France and Spain, right? Those two countries are famous for their catacombs. Especially after the black death ravaged the area during the middle ages." Amy crossed her arms. "You put your junkyard on top of a cemetery, you huge idiot."

"I didn't know!" Eggman said. "This area was supposed to be totally uninhabited."

"To be fair… a cemetery isn't _really_ inhabited." Sheptilah sighed. "Great. This place has anti-magic runes and I guarantee you there are ghosts."

"So how do we get out?" Charmy asked the question on everyone's mind.

"We gotta go forward. There's always an exit or two to these kinds of places." Amy sighed. "I'm sorry I got us into this mess."

"Well, nothing is ever easy with us, is it?" Eggman tried to comfort her a little. "If it wasn't you who sent us up the creek it was probably going to be Banana Brains over here."

"Don't be rude," Tilly snorted, "But Amy is right; we gotta go forward."

"Into the necropolis." Vector shuddered. "This is the worst day."

* * *

It wasn't so bad. The tunnel was long and winding but they did not encounter any bodies at first. Most of what they did encounter was mud and old bones stacked in piles. Eventually they came to a fork that diverged in two directions.

In the wall was etched _Sceleratis_ on the left tunnel, _Sanctus_ to the right.

"Unholy and Holy," Eggman read, "Why is it in Latin? It should be in Basque."

"No, Latin is the vernacular of the ancient Christians." Amy explained. "The 'unholy' half is probably non-Christian and pagan corpses or those that died in massive groups and couldn't be sorted. 'Holy' must be everyone else."

"Why do you know so much about this kind of stuff?" Charmy was impressed.

"I love the occult!" Amy beamed. "And I'm training to be Sheptilah's apprentice. I have to know all this stuff."

"Hello?" Sheptilah called into the left tunnel. _"Salve!"_

" _Manes quis hic?_ " Eggman called into the right side. Neither got a response.

"It doesn't matter which road we take," Amy took charge, "Because both halves are going to have lots of anti-magic charms."

"The irony in using magic to repel magic never ceases to amuse me." The witch dug into her pack for some food. She split it up among all of them evenly so they could ration their own shares. "I want to go down the unholy side. It sounds like my kind of people."

As they walked the tunnel the mud became dry, hard cobblestone and the walls expanded to the point where it was is if they were in a giant room. Lots of caskets, ossuaries and miscellaneous piles of bones, both human and Mobian, littered the area.

"This place is sacred so I shouldn't have to tell anyone not to take anything." Amy took a stern tone.

"You don't have to tell me twice." Vector's teeth chattered.

"If you can't use magic how come you can still heal and speak?" Eggman was curious about these anti-witchcraft runes and wanted to know their limits. He was made mental note of what they looked like so he could exploit it later.

"Localized," Sheptilah shrugged, "As long as you're near me the stone will translate and my healing is an intrinsic skill. I'm pretty sure the runes are meant to keep witches and the like out, so I can't open portals to or from this place."

"This place feels so calm." Amy inhaled deeply. "And it smells like flowers."

"I smell it, too," Tilly sighed, "Perfume, maybe? Or incense?"

"Incense," Eggman huffed, "Who would be burning incense down here hundreds of years after burial?"

Little pairs of golden lights appeared in the darkness. The eyes of ghosts disturbed by the presence of the living were like hundreds of candles suddenly coming alight.

" _Hic omnes qui ingrediuntur caveant_ ," a small voice spoke, " _Hoc est locus mortuorum._ "

"Ghosts!" Vector yelped.

"Ghoulies!" Charmy cried out. "Don't eat my soul!"

"Shh," Sheptilah said, " _Amicis, quomodo relinquere nos_ "

" _Tu scis verbis nostris?_ " A different voice responded.

" _Ita vero_." Eggman moved closer to Tilly.

The ghosts lit up the room with their powers. It took the form of a flowery field that extended in all directions endlessly. The ghosts were wearing clothes from different periods of time.

"We have not had visitors in quite a while," a ghost of an older black man spoke, "Forgive us if we scared you."

Sheptilah smiled. "You didn't scare us. Why are you still here in the catacombs? You should be On The Other Side."

"We're stuck here." The ghost of a small girl holding her pet kitten ran up to them. "The runes that keep _you_ out keep _us_ in." The little girl offered her kitten to pet but when Sheptilah tried to her hand simply passed through the specter.

Charmy tried to smell the flowers but frowned when he, too, passed through them.

Espio stirred from his sleep. "What happened?" He tried to sit up in Vector's arms but couldn't.

"Hey, buddy!" The crocodile smiled, "You got hurt but the witch here saved you."

"Hmm… I remember now," he gave his feet a cursory wiggle, "Thank you."

Sheptilah nodded at the chameleon.

"For hundreds of years we've existed together like so. We learned how to manipulate our surroundings but not much else." The old man ghost looked sad.

"Why can't you leave through the exit?" Eggman was getting used to the occult at this point.

"There is no exit. The whole place is sealed. If you made a _big_ hole in the wall then we could leave." A different ghost responded.

Sheptilah pulled her grimoire from her headspace and flipped through the pages. There was nothing in it about breaking charms from inside them and Shadow still had the royal grimoire.

"I can make a big hole." Amy took out her hammer. "Just tell me where to smash!" More ghosts appeared and began to congregate around the group, quiet chatter echoing from their incorporeal forms.

"We have no idea how far down we are or if there's anything above us," Eggman reminded the hedgehog, "If we're under a river we would drown."

"Well, where did you come _in_ from?" An older woman asked.

"Hole in the floor, but it's been sealed off by debris." The hedgehog said. "A cave-in occurred in an abandoned junk yard."

"So make another hole in the floor right next to it." A small cat Mobian child said matter-of-factly.

"Hmm?" Tilly raised an eyebrow, "Dig ourselves out?"

Eggman dragged his hand down his face. "We're a bunch of idiots."

"Why _didn't_ we think of that!?" Vector huffed. "We really _are_ a bunch of dummies. Occam's Razor! Obviously the floor was the thinnest where we fell _in_ and we know there's not much above it that could fall on us."

Sheptilah put her grimoire back in her head and turned to the ghosts. "Follow us. We'll get you out of here."

The group led the ghosts down the corridors. There were thousands of ghouls just lingering around though most were afraid of the living people that occasionally wandered through the crypts so they hid. Word spread quickly that the living visitors were going to get them out so they could be reunited with the rest of the dead and excited chatter soon filled the tunnels.

They asked so many questions of the living and wanted to know what was happening on the outside. In the dark, Sheptilah took Eggman's hand and squeezed it. Initially he didn't return the gesture but gave in and held hers. He wasn't sure why she did that but was happy she did and occasionally squeezed her hand back.

"It was here," Amy pointed to the rubble, "But I wonder how much of the building came down on top of us."

"Back up," Amy wanted to have lots of room to swing her hammer, "Time to bring down the house!"

"Hopefully not literally." Vector whined.

Swinging upwards was a bit difficult but she managed to get a hole big enough for them to climb out of after a few tries. After determining the safety of the tunnel she broke down the boulder blocking Orbot and Cubot, freeing them.

Eggman gave Sheptilah a boost out of the hole and in turn she helped pull everyone up. The ghosts immediately started pouring out of the opening, making the air shimmer like glitter as they successfully passed on to be with everyone else who had gone before them. Many of them muttered quiet thanks and prayers as they vanished. Others laughed happily now that they were free to explore the planet.

"Thank you, Amy. I'm glad you came. You proved invaluable to us." Sheptilah embraced the hedgehog after pulling her to the surface.

"But I'm what got you in trouble In the first place!"

"And you got us out of it!" She let a few hot tears roll down her cheeks. "And we freed _thousands_ of spirits because of you."

"Why are you crying _now?_ " Eggman tapped his foot.

"These ghosts get to go home and be with their loved ones, now. Isn't that _beautiful?_ " Tilly's happy sobs caused Amy to cry tears of joy, too.

"Yeah," he admitted, "I guess it is."

"I wonder how many other crypts are full of ghosts who cannot leave them because of runes," Espio spoke quietly, "How sad they must be to be trapped."

"Maybe someday we can go to some famous crypts and find out!" Amy wiped her tears away with the back of her hand, "That could be fun."

"Hard pass." Charmy shook his head, "Hard, hard pass!"


	40. Jewel

For a long time after retrieving the pearl there was a welcome lull in excitement for Sheptilah. Although she continued to bounce between the lair and GUN she was comfortable with doing so. She hoped she was building up an immunity to all of the iron rather than just becoming used to the constant, throbbing pain in her body.

January sped by. Sheptilah, with Amy's help, refurbished an old abandoned shack in the forest. It took a long time and a lot of lumber but they succeeded in getting it to not fall over in the slightest breeze. However, no amount of work they did could stop the leak in the roof whenever it rained.

"Hey, Tilly?" Amy was sorting through the random items Sheptilah had picked up including the spices pilfered from Eggman's pantry.

"Yeah?" The witch was on the roof patching the thatches.

"When's your birthday?"

"Oh, uh," she had to think for a second, "It already passed. Birthdays aren't a big deal for us, and I'm only turning thirty-three."

"Five thousand two hundred and thirty three," Amy corrected her, "And happy belated birthday! They're big deals for us so next time give us warning!"

Sheptilah laughed. "Alright, fine, I'm ancient! Old as dirt! Older than-"

"You're an _antique_ ," Eggman chimed in, "It's much more polite to put it that way."

"Ivo?"

"I'm down here." He responded. He had a briefcase in his hand. "I'm actually looking for Amy. The blue rat said she'd be out here."

"Eggman?" Amy poked her head out the window.

"Fuzzy Puppy Buddies released some new blind packs and I've got doubles. I was wondering if you wanted to trade?" His voice had a higher inflection and he bounced on his toes.

"That stuff's back at my house," Amy brushed her hair out of her face, "We're kinda working on our apothecary here."

"On your what?" Eggman sulked. "A witch house?"

Sheptilah jumped down and landed in front of Eggman. She was sweaty and a bit dirty. Her hair was tied into a bun and her clothes were a simple black dress and a leather apron with a large front pocket.

"You're a terrible liar! You came to see _me_." She said smugly.

"What if both things are true?" He grinned. "I've got news about the witch-eaters too."

Amy and Sheptilah sat next to each other at her heavy wooden table while Eggman sat across from them. The hut was large and well-furnished with overstuffed shelves and wooden chests strewn about. He placed some papers on top of the table and slid it toward Amy.

"Mordred, the Egg Boss of Eurish if you remember, his team found some evidence of wiccaphage activity."

"Wiccaphage?" Amy's brow creased.

"Yes, as in 'witch-eater'. Wicca meaning witch and phage meaning to eat."

"Wicca is a _religion_ , but go on." Amy rolled her eyes.

"Anyway," Eggman cocked his head, "They found the same kind of iron-dissolving marks on nearby buildings from a few years ago. Thunderbolt's people interviewed the locals and found that there were odd disappearances years ago as well. Five years ago, to be exact."

"When was the moon destroyed?" Sheptilah bit her thumbnail.

"Five years ago," he sighed, "So they immediately started causing trouble."

"But then… I should've been awoken immediately. The burst of energy that attracted you in the first place was the only one sent out."

"I was out there for something else. Finding you was an accident." Eggman pulled on his glove, "I didn't go out there after the burst of energy; it happened after I arrived."

She crossed her legs and bounced her foot nervously, "Why would the magic choose you?" She jumped up and grabbed the royal grimoire, dropped it on the table and began flipping through the pages.

"Un- _fudging_ -believable," she pulled out some of the bookmarks, "Okay." She paused. The spell listed in the book was slightly different from the one that was imposed upon her. It wasn't unusual for a mage to alter a spell to suit their needs but it was rude of them to not apply their notes to it.

"What is it?" Eggman adjusted his glasses.

"Nobody kept their damned notes the way they should've. Then again, I guess they all died after they sealed me up." The witch crossed her arms. "I honestly don't know why you were chosen."

"Divine retribution for blowing up the moon in the first place!" Amy flashed a sharp-toothed grin. All of the Mobian hedgehogs had fangs, but Amy rarely showed hers.

"Unless… there is a theory," Sheptilah interrupted, "About the sun and the moon."

"A theory or a prophecy?" The hedgehog mused.

"The Red King and the White Queen. The sun and the moon 'marry'," she used air quotes, "Or come together soul-to-soul. It's an allegory of two conflicting forces coming together to create the rebis. I think the rebis would be whatever we defeat these wiccaphages with. It's gotta be the staff my mothers designed."

Amy gripped the table. "Where does this leave Shadow?" Her heart was beating hard and fast. All of this was exciting to her.

"Shadow is the third facet in the tria prima! He's salt! Salt is all about what's left over between life and death, right? And we all know his story fits that allegory. Gods, it makes so much sense!" Sheptilah grabbed a pencil and flipped to a blank page in the grimoire and started scribbling in cuneiform.

"The Universe is bringing us together to fulfill this alchemic theory," Sheptilah spoke rapidly, "I should've known. There's always a reason for something."

"What the heck are you talking about?" The Overlander was very confused.

"Eggman, you're the sun." The little pink apprentice slammed her fist on the table. "The Universe chose you for this on purpose. That's why the crystal didn't call for you until you were close enough. You were predestined for this. All three of you. Mercury, sulfur and salt are what metaphorically make up all of the Universe."

"But _marriage_?" He squinted.

"It's not literal, you doofus," Tilly stuck out her tongue, "I'm the moon and you are the sun." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "Sulfur and mercury."

"It makes so much sense!" Amy jumped up, slamming her hands down with a loud slap. "Mercury is the moon, right? Mercury is a shapeshifting material both literally and metaphorically. That's what you are, Sheptilah! And Eggman is sulfur! Active, fiery and volatile!" She jumped up and down. "Oh my God! It's all coming together!"

"Ladies," Eggman was thrown off guard by their enthusiasm, " _The sun?_ "

"You were meant to be together!" Amy sighed wistfully. "It's almost romantic."

Sheptilah bit her lip, she didn't want the budding feelings known to anyone. She hadn't even told her familiar. It was a simple crush, nothing more.

"Amy, you need to lay off the pulp novels." Eggman chuckled.

"Sulfur represents wants and desires," Tilly interrupted again, "Salt is the manifestation of hard work and mercury is the constant movement between shapes."

"You're always pursuing your goals, Shadow is an engineered being and Sheptilah is always moving between here and GUN and moving between shapes." Amy explained. "Sheptilah has white hair and you wear red, primarily."

Eggman's eyes grew a bit wider with understanding. "And sulfur smells like eggs."

Sheptilah sat down and rested her head on her grimoire. "My head hurts."

"My mind is blown," the hedgehog squealed, "Oh my gosh!"

"Before we get any further off topic," Eggman snapped his fingers to get their attention, "The Avalon Egg Boss has been able to collect samples of the phages. Now we can try to track them globally. We may not even need to complete the staff."

"He did? That's great!" Tilly felt her heart lighten.

"Yes. I've already begun working on the device that will search for traces of them. Currently what tracking technology we have for living organisms isn't sophisticated enough to detect residue globally. You have to be in the area for it to scan anything." He scratched his forehead, "which means putting yourself at risk for being attacked by one."

"Please send a sample of the phages to GUN as well." Sheptilah pressed her palms together and brought her fingers up to her mouth as if she was praying.

"You can do that yourself. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't accept any packages from me." Eggman shook his head.

* * *

 **SHEPTILAH DOSSIER** … last edited 2 / 25

I have my suspicions about the Oracle Stone. I feel this urge to grab it sometimes to see what it feels like but I know I would pull back a bloody stump.

So much information was dumped on me earlier. Supposedly the universe intentionally brought all three of us together to save our planet.

It seems like the 'sun' and the 'moon' are supposed to survive together, but it makes me wonder. There's something, dare I say, bewitching, about her.

I question whether or not it's me feeling her feelings, my own or the bond that forced us together in the first place. What's real anymore? At least she's healthier and happier now, but so far she seems irritated with me whenever I'm around. Very cold and distant.

I went back to the catacombs in Eurish and took some photos of the runes on the walls. That along with a very strong iron box would make a suitable cage for her. Hopefully I can study her more and have a more complete dossier. If she's trapped in that box I can do whatever I like to her without the bond affecting me!

I wonder if a raw iron collar and shackles is enough? I may not even need a box. That may make her limbs fall off, though.

* * *

"You got any love potions?" Rouge giggled. She went up to the large window and called in.

"No, I don't do love potions but I can tell your future! It says I'll be right out." Sheptilah stood up from the table and went to the door. "Where's Shadow?"

"He's talking to Sonic about collecting the last four Chaos Emeralds. That doctor back at the lab is still pressing for you. We keep telling him no but he refuses to let it go. President Tower is starting to press for your blood sample as well." The bat frowned, "You have no real choice now."

Tilly raised her hand to hush the bat. "Eggman is here."

Rouge's mouth became a tight line. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't be sorry. Come on in, I was about to make some fried honey bread." The witch smiled brightly.

* * *

"Tails," Shadow's voice was low and growly, "I would like to get the Emeralds some time this century."

"I'm working on it! Jeez. You're immortal- all you have is time." The fox typed away at his laptop. "One is in a museum in Dubai. If they refuse to lend it you could probably replace it with a fake and they'll never know. That just leaves us with three to find. I'll keep the program running at all times and I'll contact you once we find something."

"Dubai?" Sonic furrowed his brow. "Isn't that where the cops drive Lamborghinis and Bugattis?" He laughed, slapping his knee. "Could you imagine the cops chasing Shadow in one of those?"

"They'd never catch me," the black hedgehog smirked, "But it would be entertaining to see them try."

Tails frowned. "They're also known for brutality."

Shadow waved off his concerns. "I can teleport in and out before their cameras even notice. GUN has diplomats in the Arab Emirates so I highly doubt it'll come to that."

"I hope I don't have to bail you out of prison," Sonic shrugged, "It's been nice seeing you, though. How goes the work on the witch-eater things?"

Shadow winced. "Don't even bring it up. We haven't found a damn thing and it's driving Hope up the wall. She seems to think they're responsible for the small quakes in the ocean. I keep reassuring her she's just stressing out over not having any real answers."

"That bad, huh? If we got a sample we could build a tracker." Tails sighed. "Sorry I couldn't be more help."

* * *

"So it's just fried dough dipped in honey?" Amy stood on a stool to see over the counter.

"Yep," Sheptilah showed Amy how to make it, "Really easy."

Rouge sat across from Eggman at the table and flipped through the grimoire.

"So why can't you do love potions?" Amy wistfully sighed.

"I can, I just _don't_. It's about consent!" Sheptilah flipped a half-fried chunk of dough. "You can't just mess around with that kind of thing."

"Nowadays we call that a roofie." Eggman scoffed.

Sheptilah pointed her spatula at him. "See? He gets it."

Amy's expression turned sour/ "Not like that. Don't be creeps. I'm thirteen years old, for God's sake! I just want my crush to be reciprocated."

Tilly frowned. "Sorry, you're right."

Eggman rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his palm. "Amy, if I may be so bold; I don't think Sonic has time for feelings."

"Nobody around here does," Rouge's wings twitched, "We're all too busy."

"Saving the world." Sheptilah stared at the bread bubbling in the oil.

"Sonic spends three quarters of the day asleep," Amy sighed, "I guess all that running exhausts him. You should see his caloric intake; it's _insane_."

Sheptilah scooped the finished bits of bread and drizzled on fresh comb honey.

Amy took the grimoire off the table and put it away so Tilly would have a place for the snacks.

"I'll tell you what, Amy," the witch smiled warmly at her, "I have a surprise for you tonight, so cheer up."

The pink hedgehog continued to pout. "Alright."

Almost everyone enjoyed their treat. The only odd man out was Eggman, frustrated with getting honey in his mustache. Rouge went on a walk with Amy to talk with her about her feelings; leaving the two Overlanders alone.

"I see you've been sticking to your prescribed diet," Eggman leaned in, "I decided I was going to work on myself, too. Notice anything different?" He grinned expectantly.

Sheptilah stared blankly at him. "You're using a different cologne?"

"Well yes but," he flexed his arm, "I've been working out."

"Well, you _do_ look slightly thinner." She raised an eyebrow, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine." He grinned. "You're a good cook, you know."

"Thanks. Listen, I have stuff to do. I have to go collect some things from the forest before I can open my shop."

"Can I come with?" He asked innocently.

She paused then blushed slightly, nearly faltering in her steps. "Sure, I guess."

The jungle around the hut had been cleared and a garden was started. Pumpkins, watermelons, pineapples, kiwis and sunflowers were bearing fruit.

"Amy put in an order for cacao seeds so I can grow my own chocolate plants. You got me hooked, you know." She adjusted the basket she was carrying.

"I apologize for nothing." He watched her bend down and pick up seemingly random things. Specific kinds of tree leaves, twigs, coconuts and wildflowers.

"Sheptilah, can I be honest with you about something?" He held his hands behind his back.

"What is it?" She stood up and looked at him over her shoulder. Her expression was that of worry.

"You mentioned consent earlier. It made me think about the magical tethering and how it affects us."

"Yes?"

"Is it something that would force us to become complacent with each other?" He chose his words extremely carefully.

"Oh, _no_ ," she smiled, "It doesn't. Messing with people's emotions is explicitly forbidden. It just isn't done."

"That's a relief. Good to know you actually like me and it's my charms, not some kind of magical sedative."

Sheptilah raised an eyebrow and then began to laugh. Eggman laughed with her, their loud voices startling the wild birds.

She dropped the basket and ran to him, embracing him tightly. She buried her face in his chest and sighed. Ivo wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on the top of her head.

"So I'm the sun, huh? I guess that means the world revolves around me."

Sheptilah snorted, her voice muffled. "Yes. It absolutely does." She gripped his leather jacket; feeling the smooth, velvety texture with her fingertips.

"We're both going to die, aren't we?" He asked her flatly.

"Maybe," she hugged him tighter, "Probably." She corrected herself.

"Of course the sun goes out with a supernova." He looked up at the swaying leaves breaking up the beams of sunlight coming through them. "It's just as well. I don't have a family or children or anyone who depends on me. Once you're gone GUN is probably going to imprison me for my crimes for the rest of my miserable life."

"Do they allow conjugal visits?" She looked up at him and smirked.

He chortled. "I don't think so."

"That's too bad," she shrugged, "Thunderbolt would find a way." She stood up on the tips of her toes and chastely kissed him on the cheek. He was startled by the show of affection and his cheeks reddened.

She, too, was startled by the sudden bravery she felt in expressing her feelings. She played it off like a friendly gesture. What she truly wanted was to be touched intimately, even right there on the jungle floor. Imagining his massive hands trailing her nude body made her swallow hard.

She suddenly felt shame for these thoughts and shook it off.

"Come on; I have more stuff to collect."


	41. Clear Blue Water

"Sorry the Overlanders were kinda creepy back there, but I don't think they meant anything by it." Rouge was walking along a jungle path with Amy.

"No, I know," she brushed her pink hair back, "Sonic knows how I feel. I feel like he is intentionally teasing me and playing with my heart."

"Between you and me I think Sonic likes you, too."

Amy brightened up. "Really?"

"Sure! You kind of are the only other hedgehog on the island, too. No competition." She put a hand on her hip.

"He liked that squirrel-chipmunk girl Sally," Amy's face turned a bit sour, "I don't think it's a species thing."

"How _is_ Sally?" Rouge's ears picked up a noise nearby and swiveled to its direction.

"She sends letters sometimes. Knothole is thriving now that Eggman is quarantined here where GUN has no legal jurisdiction. It also helps that he's busy with that other Overlander."

"Speaking of," Rouge turned her head, "I think I can hear them."

"They're here?"

"Shh," Rouge hushed Amy and pulled her behind a tree. "I want to know what they're doing out here." She grabbed the hedgehog and silently flew into a nearby tree and perched there.

"...Apologize for nothing..." Eggman's voice was drowned out by the rustling of the leaves.

"Rouge, we shouldn't spy." Amy whispered. Rouge leaned forward to hear better. The girls heard the humans laughing, the sudden loudness startling some birds. Eggman looked up toward the fluttering noise, nearly spotting the Mobians.

Amy was confused by Overlanders hugging. "I wish I knew enough Nannaeic to understand what she was saying."

Rouge was gripping the branch she was perched on tightly. Her eyes were wide and a smile crept across her face when she saw the witch kiss Eggman on the cheek.

Amy squinted and her mouth hung open.

"It's a secret rendezvous," Rouge whispered excitedly, "Shadow is gonna _kill_ him."

"I don't think that's what this is." Amy flapped her hand to hush Rouge.

"Tower is gonna kill _her_ ," the bat's wings twitched, "It's like _Romeo and Juliet._ "

"That play ends in a double suicide," Amy shut her eyes and shook her head, "it better not be."

"No, I mean a forbidden love." Rouge snickered. "Shadow is gonna blow a gasket."

"Maybe I have more charm than I thought," Eggman chuckled nervously, "What was that for?"

"You really aren't used to affection. That's kinda sad." She sighed and broke the hug. She bent down to pick up the spilled contents of her basket.

"Tilly," Eggman squatted next to her, "I get the feeling you're not telling me everything."

She kept her eyes focused on the spilled objects but her face reddened a bit. "About what?"

"The affection."

"W-what about it?" She avoided eye contact.

"You're not sucking off my energy, are you?" He narrowed his eyes at her. "Like an energy vampire? You seem perkier around lots of people but colder and more tired by yourself."

"What? There isn't always an ulterior motive, Ivo." She frowned.

"My whole life I've been betrayed by friends and family with ulterior motives. You can't blame me for being cautious." He stood when she stood.

"I guess I can't trust you," she sneered, "Because you don't trust me. I don't like being alone with my thoughts, that's why I prefer to be around a lot of people."

Doctor Eggman isn't stupid. He could tell she had a crush and he was going to use it to his advantage. He reached into the basket and pulled out a flower and stuck it behind her ear.

She felt electricity run through her body. The simple gesture nearly stopped her heart. The poor witch felt like a teenager again, unsure of the world but wholly optimistic of the future.

She then remembered all the evil he did and frowned. Her eyes dropped to the jungle floor, thinking of how foolish she was for letting her feelings develop unchecked.

"What's wrong?" Eggman pouted.

"Preemptive regret," she admitted, "And future regrets."

"Lighten up," he shrugged, "Collect some coconuts and relax."

She wrung her hands together. "I actually need to get stuff from the ocean but it's too dangerous for me to go alone."

"Are you asking me to go with you?"

"Only if you want. You can sit on the shore if you like, otherwise I'll ask Amy."

"No, I'll go. Should I bring my personal submarine?" He chuckled.

Tilly shook her head. "No, you won't need that."

Rouge looked at Amy and shrugged.

* * *

The beach was nearly deserted save for a few Mobians walking about. Sheptilah kicked up some sand and made a surfboard of glass with the flick of her wrist. She jumped on it and pulled Eggman with her.

"How far down do you plan on going?" He furrowed his brow and put his hands on her shoulder.

"Half a mile out," she rotated her shoulder, "Give or take."

"We'll be killed by the water pressure," he swallowed, "Wait!" He cried as she sped off laughing. It took less than a minute to reach their destination and she dove straight down into the water. Eggman screamed thinking he was going to drown, but after a moment he realized he was in a bubble of air and they were at the seafloor. She didn't mean half a mile _down_ in the sea but half a mile out from the _shore_.

Sheptilah made it so that the bubble was a foot off the sandy bottom so as to not kill any of the wildlife. She sat on the edge of board, legs dangling. Eggman followed her lead as he was afraid he'd fall over. She created a wisp to light the way.

"I come down here a lot," she said, "The ocean is so beautiful. I wish I grew up near it." The air surrounding them was cold and dense, but it didn't hurt to breathe. "I keep finding my way back to the water."

Eggman gripped the edge of the board, "You shouldn't come down here alone so much, then. You know those wiccaphages are around here, right?"

"I haven't seen any." The board pushed forward slowly.

"For once I wish you would just listen to us and be safe. I realize you're sick but-" Eggman was interrupted by a large sea turtle swimming by and distracting him. "Wow, it _is_ gorgeous down here."

"I can protect myself," she reached down into the freezing cold water and pulled up a small chunk of half-dead coral, "Not that you care too much about me."

"Hey," he lightly placed his fingertips on her thigh, "I do care."

She inhaled sharply under his touch, charged by it. She wasn't sure if it felt nice or painful.

"Only because you care about _yourself_."

"You're my friend," he reassured her, "We don't see eye-to-eye on most things but you're still my friend."

She held up the coral and pointed at him with it. She looked like she was about to say something but paused.

She looked up, her eyes darting between his lips and his eyes hidden behind the dark glasses. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. She sat up a bit and brought her face in close to his, tempted to kiss him and see how far he'd let her go before pushing her away.

He held his breath, unsure of what she was going to do. Ivo brought his mouth together in a tight line; assuming she was going to share another memory.

She saw him withdraw so she sat back, leaning on her hands with her chest puffed out. Eggman raised an eyebrow at this behavior. Her feelings were so confused; she didn't want to kiss him but if he _decided_ to hold her down by her wrists and ram himself into her she'd allow it.

She remembered the crushing grip he had on her throat and imagined those same deadly hands grasping her hips tightly, pulling her onto him. She looked up at him abruptly and decided a change of subject was in order.

"I'm going to take Shadow to Yggdrasil to get the dew tomorrow. I'm going to need everyone's help," she finally spoke, "It's extremely dangerous and it's going to be the hardest item to get."

Eggman took off his fogged glasses and dried them on the edge of his coat. "And what am _I_ supposed to do to help?"

"You have to hold me down. Sonic will have Shadow while Amy supervises and takes notes." The witch shrugged, "Meaning you will literally have to hold me down. This kind of astral projection is dangerous and if one of us gets lost on that kind of plane we'll be screwed."

"Can't someone just duct tape you down?" He laughed.

"No!" She giggled. "No! You have to physically ground me. The unfortunate thing is it could take hours. As long as you don't let go at any time it will be okay. Sonic and his friends will be there to help."

A pod of dolphins clicked at the intruders as they swam by. Sheptilah stopped the board to pick up a dead giant clam under them. She lifted the sixty pound bivalve into her lap and cackled.

"What's gotten into you?" Eggman scoffed.

"Incense burner!" She cheerfully said.

* * *

That night Sheptilah and Amy sat by a small bonfire on the beach. The woman had a small cup of dye and a paintbrush in her hands. Amy kept her eyes closed.

"Now that you're my apprentice," she dipped the paintbrush in the ink, "This means you are a princess."

"Really?" Her spines stood on end. _A real princess!_

Sheptilah nodded and painted three raindrops with their points touching at the zenith on Amy's forehead. She then painted the same shapes on her own forehead.

"So, in the end, my kingdom will be yours and Shadow's to share. There isn't much to it, but I'm pleased to have you in my court."

"A seelie court princess. Me!" Amy couldn't believe it. "Wait, I have to share it with Shadow?"

"He _is_ my better half. What's a seelie court?"

"Yes! It's a royal court of fairies. I know you keep saying you're not a fairy but… I've always wanted to be a part of a seelie court!" Amy cupped her cheeks in her hands. "Aah! I'm too excited."

With upturned eyebrows Tilly peered at the little hedgehog and then hugged her. "Alright then! Seelie court it is."

Amy looked around to be sure they were alone. She leaned in and pursed her lips.

"So I saw you kiss Eggman today," the hedgehog raised her eyebrows, "So did Rouge."

All the color washed out of Sheptilah's face. "You did?"

"We were up in the trees." Amy blinked.

"You were _spying_ on me?" Sheptilah raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Amy nodded. "Rouge sort of made me. I'm sorry."

Sheptilah pouted and scooted back, "It was a _friendly_ gesture. He said that he was going to go out like a supernova. He's pretty sure we're going to die. I've told him before I wouldn't let that happen but… " Her voice drifted off.

"But what?" Amy furrowed her brow.

"I don't know if I can keep that promise."

"Look," Amy scooted forward, "We could all benefit from Eggman being gone but none of us want him to _actually_ die."

"Don't worry about this stuff, Amy. You're thirteen years old. Be a kid."

"We were all forced to grow up fast years ago." Her young, pink face was serious. "Besides, we don't age like humans do."

Sheptilah looked at her wide-eyed with her brows knitted together, frown wrinkling her expression.

"Hey." Shadow's familiar voice called. He walked up to the girls and sat by the fire.

"Hi." Tilly waved half-heartedly at him.

"I'm a princess! I'm part of the court now."

"Still handing out royalty titles?" He turned to look at the witch who shrugged innocently back at him.

"Are you ready to get the dew?" Amy chirped. "I'm so ready to take notes!"

"Okay, everyone!" Sheptilah stood outside her hut with her hands on her hips.

Amy, Sonic and Tails looked up at her while Shadow and Knuckles moved the furniture inside to make room. "We're just waiting on Eggman but we are basically ready to start. Come on inside."

She opened the door to let them in. On the heavy wooden table were a bunch of seemingly random items. In the center of the table was the giant clam sHell with incense burning in the center.

"This is called a flying ointment," the witch held up a small dish, "None of you should touch this bare-handed."

Sticks shook her head. "I'm supposed to make sure nobody, mostly Knuckles, doesn't touch the flying ointment."

"I can already glide, why would I need to fly?" The echidna stood defiantly. "That and I don't know how a lotion can make someone fly. Don't be ridiculous."

"So help me I will beat you over the head with my foot." The badger gestured broadly to the group. "You're all also fools for allowing this whole astral projecting thing. I won't help you if the shadow people come and try to eat our toenails!"

Amy set out two smaller coffee tables in the middle of the room and placed a pillow on each of them.

"They're not bringing anyone back with them." The pink hedgehog shrugged.

Eggman and his two robots appeared in the doorway. "The cavalry's here!" Eggman said sing-songy. "Did I miss anything?"

"No," Tilly smiled, "We're about to start."

Sheptilah laid Shadow back on one of the tables and slipped off his gloves but left his power rings in place. She dipped a finger into the dish and lightly applied some of the ointment to his gums, careful to not cut herself on his sharp teeth.

"It tingles." Shadow said.

"It's supposed to." Tilly rubbed the remaining bits on his lips and the inside of his ears. "Try not to bite Sonic, okay?"

"I make no promises." He flashed the blue hedgehog a smirk.

Amy gave Sonic a chair to sit in so he could be comfortable. The witch instructed Sonic to take off his gloves and rest his bare hands on Shadow's cheeks.

"Do not, and I mean, _do not ever_ take your hands off of him or he may get lost," the witch warned, "Not for anything."

"Stuff is gonna get weird," Amy said to the group, " _Really_ weird. I'm tasked with taking notes the whole time so we just have to keep our two grounders comfortable."

"I'm gonna record this on my laptop for posterity, is that okay?" Tails asked sheepishly.

"Sure," Tilly nodded.

"Your face is so soft, Shadow," Sonic teased, "What moisturizer do you use?"

"Can I bite him?" Shadow innocently pleaded with his witch. "Can… can I…" He started to doze. "Bite…"

Tilly applied the ointment to her own lips and gums. She then laid back on the table and instructed Eggman to hold onto her face. His ungloved hands were soft and warm.

"This is weird," Cubot commented, "Is this a seance?"

"Not if we do it right." Amy sat nearby with the royal grimoire and a pencil in hand.

"See you on the other side," Sheptilah dozed, gripping Shadow's hand, "See you soon."


	42. Come Into My Dream

Shadow sat up and sighed. "It isn't working. Maybe the ointment stuff doesn't affect me." He looked over and saw the witch was still laying on her back with a bored-looking Eggman moving in slow-motion as he tapped his thumbs absentmindedly against her cheeks.

He looked down at himself and saw his own body appearing to sleep peacefully as Sonic, also in slow motion, laughed at something. It was dead silent.

Sheptilah sat up with a start and looked around. "Shadow!" She chirped, "Welcome to the astral realm."

"I do not like this," he complained. He looked down briefly and then away. "May I ask why you're naked?"

"Astral forms don't wear pants," she shrugged. She moved her hair out of the way to show that her torso was completely without detail like a doll's, "Can't see anything anyway."

Shadow lifted his leg and saw that he was barefoot. The red stripe on his legs stretched down to the side of his foot and across his sharp, curved pinky toes and claws. Sheptilah held out her hand.

Shadow sighed and took it, careful not to cut her with his claws. She lightly pulled him toward her and he floated off from his body like a half-deflated balloon.

"So how do we get to Yggdrasil from here?" He wiggled his legs trying to get his bearings.

"The World Tree's roots are huge. Can't miss them." She guided him further away from his body.

Amy looked them over, frowning. "It's been ten minutes and still nothing. They should be speaking backwards by now."

"Speaking backwards?" Tails raised an eyebrow, "What else can we expect?"

"Rapid eye movement and possible seizures." Amy took note of the time in the grimoire.

"¿ʍǝ ɐɹǝ ʍɥǝɹǝ" Shadow spoke hoarsely.

Sheptilah's voice overlapped with his, "¿oʞɐʎ 'ɯǝ ɟɹoɯ ɟɐɹ ʇoo ʍɐupǝɹ ʇ,pou ˙ɹǝɐןɯ ɐsʇɹɐן ʇɥǝ ıu ɐɹǝ ʍǝ"

"¿qɹıpƃǝ ɹɐıuqoʍ ʇɥǝ ʇɥɐʇ ıs 'qǝɐnʇıɟnן s,ıʇ" Shadow's eyes opened but were devoid of pupils.

"Can we get a translation, Tails?" Sonic chuckled nervously.

"I can't get a real translation," the fox's face grew serious, "From Shadow I can pick up a few things like 'Rainbow Bridge'."

Amy wrote everything down dutifully.

"ʇɹonqןǝ qıƃ ıu qǝ ןן,ʍǝ ɥǝıɯpoן ndsǝʇ ʎon ıɟ qǝɔɐnsǝ ɐuʎʇɥıuƃ ʇonɔɥ ʇ,pou 'ʎǝs" Sheptilah's body rolled its head back and forth a bit.

Shadow's body arched its back, metal skates grating against the table he laid on.

"Easy." Sonic cooed.

"If she starts foaming at the mouth I'm getting out of here," Eggman frowned.

"Be careful what you say," Sheptilah warned, "They can hear you back at my hut, but it's garbled."

She showed him how to move around, which was simple enough: you just imagine yourself floating in a certain direction and your projection does so. She led him outside of her hut, straight through the wall as if they were ghosts. She imagined herself in a long, flowing white dress and it appeared on her body.

From there they could see large tree roots jutting straight from the ground and into the sky like towers.

"These are the smallest of its roots," Sheptilah pointed, "Which means the only way to go is up."

They rose over the island. It quickly disappeared behind them into the big ocean.

Shadow was entranced by the beauty of the Rainbow Bridge. It was a simple rainbow but glittered like it was made of precious gems. Each band of color was like a river unto itself and seemed to stretch into the sky infinitely. As they flew above it Sheptilah dipped her hand into the violet row and lifted her stained hand to Shadow's face.

"I thought you said not to touch anything," he smirked.

Sheptilah stuck out her tongue. "This is oka,." the color faded off her skin, "It's like touching the sidewalk."

"So how are we supposed to bring an item back from the astral plane?" He dipped a finger into the purple band and shuddered at the cold sensation that ran up his arm.

"Simple," Sheptilah sped up, "You just find the leaves to get some dew, then I will open a portal back at the hut to the realm. Amy's ready to collect the dew with a jar."

"What even makes this tree so special?" Shadow struggled to keep up with her. He saw that trailing behind her was a faint, glittering silver cord not much thicker than fishing line. He looked behind himself and saw he had the same cord.

"It's the tree that holds up all of the astral planes across the universe as a whole."

"What is this, then?" Shadow tugged on the cord.

"That's your Silver Cord," she rolled over, "It's what keeps your soul attached to your body. With that line you can return to your body."

"So then why are Sonic and Eggman holding our faces?" The hedgehog asked flatly.

Sheptilah winked. "It's the only way to keep them from killing each other while we're projecting. We don't actually _need_ them."

Soon a large cylindrical brown object came into view at the end of the rainbow. The closer they got to it the more they understood the massive size of the World Tree. Yggdrasil's trunk was hundreds of miles in circumference with branches extending out endlessly.

The air around them was thin but warm and a thick fog rolled across the landmass making up the 'ground' upon which they stood.

"How do we get to the leaves?" Shadow sighed, "This thing is huge."

"It's basically holding up the Universe, more or less," she looked around with wide-eyed wonder, "It would have to be huge."

Some strange-looking creatures meandered around them. Horses and foals with more than two pairs of legs, small dragon-like lizards and simple squirrels paid them no mind.

"Some creatures are born here," she said, "This would be them."

One of the foals turned back to the woman when she spoke and looked at her with twisted eyes, tilting its head curiously. She watched it closely as it trotted off to rejoin its group.

"I'm afraid to ask but," Shadow kept his voice low, "Will we see many dead people here?"

"Oh, _yes_ ," she looked at him with sad eyes, "But probably nobody we know."

"Is this where all the dead go?" His eyes darted around at every movement.

"No. Lots of places for the dead to go, this is just one of them." She began to climb up the trunk, "Life on Midgard, which is where we're from, is short. Life after life… is eternal; and it's immense."

"So where's your plane? The dream plane that I visited, I mean." Shadow followed her

"Elsewhere," she shrugged, "It's totally different from this one." Her hand hit a strange part of the trunk that looked like the rest of it but felt like rushing wind. Her arm was pulled into it by an unseen force. She tried to rip herself out of it but was unable to free herself. Shadow grabbed her by the other arm and bracing his feet on the trunk tried to yank her out but it was no use; they were both gone.

They could hear the sound of faint, braying laughter as they tumbled around in the darkness. It was the sound of the descendants of Sleipnir laughing at the visitors' misery.

* * *

 **Halo**

They were surrounded by dark, cold water. There was no urge to breathe, as they could not drown. Shadow's projection floated limply toward the surface but Sheptilah's sank.

The hedgehog looked around and silently panicked. Where are we and how deep does the ocean go? Which way is up? He felt like they were being watched.

The witch's dress floated up around her, giving the illusion that she was a giant upside-down jellyfish. She kicked hard and swam to him, embracing the hedgehog.

Sunlight filtered through the water in wavy golden bands. He pointed to it and beckoned the witch to follow him. They seemed to get nowhere no matter how hard they swam. Without landmarks it was hard to tell in what direction they were moving if they were moving at all.

Sheptilah crossed her arms in frustration and let herself sink. Shadow gestured for her to keep swimming but she simply huffed.

A massive shadow came into view beneath them. Many glowing green eyes the size of dinner plates stared at them inquisitively. Shadow pointed to it with alarm. The witch turned around, wide-eyed at what she saw.

Yo̬͈̱̟u͞ ̯s̺h̺̼͓͝o̲̮̥͚ṷ̗̮̳͓͙͡l̕d̯̟̺̱͢ͅn͖͢'̨̞̮͕̰̖̝t̩̠̲̰̞̟ ͖b̼̝̙͙e͇ ̩͉̯̦̹h̥̗̞̯e̖͖͉̫̮͓͘ͅr͙̩̻͟e̟̝͝

҉̰͉̩̩̩ ̙̰ ̦͔ͅ ̶Le̟̰a̤͕͕̯͎̘͠v̕e̪̗̖̭̱͕̕ ͚̘͇̯̲t̤hi̼s̷̺͔̜̰ ͢p̦̩l̛̞à̬͉c̡͙̹̗̗̣e̢̫̥̮̩̗,̦̤̙͕̝̲̭ ̩͚m͝o̤̖̪r̨̩̙̞̺t̞͈̟͖͕̟a̞͓l҉͖͍̬s̖̤

t͙ḥ̬̰͕ḭ̤̞s̹̜̭͈͈̣͝ ͎̙̠̥̦i̹s̮̪̗̣ ̵̦̟̫̞͕̲̤t͓̺̣h͘e͉͇̪̳ ̱͚̗̻se͓͇̘̠a̝̳̜̩ͅ ̡̬͚͚̘o̰f̣̤͖͞ ̖̠m͖̪e̱͖͡r̯̤m̖̠͢a̵̱ͅi̞̘ḑ͖̟s̳̣̠͇

The voice was pleading but booming. The creature swam up to them, the waves pushing them back violently. Once they righted themselves they saw the beast was a gigantic mermaid. Her mouth alone was large enough to swallow a whole island and her two large eyes were actually millions of smaller ones clustered together, moving in all directions in a pattern like a wave.

The goliath's skin had the color and texture of cracked asphalt. Sheptilah moved in front of Shadow protectively though they were both without powers.

The ten-fingered hand of the mermaid goliath grabbed them and flung them with great, spinning force out of the water.

* * *

 **Waltz of the Flowers**

In a second they were transported to a glen filled with humanoid flowers dancing in circles. Roses, daisies, morning glories and hydrangeas were among the swath of dancers twirling in the sunlight.

"Huh," the hedgehog spoke, "This land is much more pleasant than the last."

"Please stay close to me," the witch put a hand on the top of his head.

"Visitors!" A booming voice called to them from behind. They turned to see a black cat with a white locket wearing a golden crown. The flowers stopped dancing when he shouted and bowed. As it turns out, they were not flowers at all but cats in costume.

"I am Cat Sidhe," the large cat came up to them, "King of the cats."

"Sheptilah, queen of the Nannae," she bowed to the cat politely.

"Shadow, king of the Nannae," he followed suit.

"Don't tell an old fairy your full name," she remembered hearing Amy warn. "They can trap you by knowing it."

Too bad Sheptilah's full name was her first name. Shadow had thankfully not uttered his last name, Robotnik.

"Ah! Welcome to my seelie court," he tipped his crown, "Always a pleasure to have other fae in my realm."

The costumed cats came up to them and purred curiously.

 _"Don't ever thank an old fairy,"_ Amy once said to Sheptilah, _"_ _I_ _t's a curse to them."_

"What brings you to my kingdom? We have not had your kind of visitors here in thousands of years."

"The fae realm?" Shadow squinted.

"Land of the fairies," Tilly turned to Shadow.

"Quite so," his tail swished with slight agitation. "Show us your powers, queen of the Nannae! Entertain us with your moon magic," he urged. "I want to see it for myself!" He went up to Shadow and cocked his head, "I see you have a locket but no Oracle Stone?" He was disappointed.

"I cannot perform magic," she chose her words carefully, "We are mere astral projections."

"I was not born into her race but accepted into it," Shadow crossed his arms.

"Ah," the cat became morbidly interested in them. "So you are here as phantoms."

"Yes," Tilly looked around, unsure of what to say. "How may we leave? We fell into Yggdrasil's trunk and we're very lost."

"Leave? Why would you want to leave?" Cat gestured to his kingdom, "This is the land of cats and joy. Eternal sunshine and peace."

"We can return when we have more time," she clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

"At least stay for dinner," he pleaded.

 _Don't eat their food._

"We cannot eat, either," she chuckled, "We're not corporeal."

"Fine, you are no fun!" The cat extended his claws and sliced a hole out of his realm into another.

"While I cannot send you to Yggdrasil itself I can at least send you to a different, closer plane."

"How may I repay your kindness?" She asked politely.

"Leave me a saucer of milk with honey at your abode," he grinned, "I will find my way to you."

Sheptilah knit her brows together. Whatever you do, don't let them come into your home, Amy's voice echoed. She nodded, accepting the deal.

"Th-" Shadow tried to thank the fae when Sheptilah slammed her hand over his mouth. She was met with muffled protests. Sheptilah stepped into the portal with Shadow.

* * *

 **Slumberland**

"Hey, wake up!" A soft voice startled them. "Wakey-wakey."

Sheptilah sat up with a start. They were in a small wooded area with a ring of doors around them. A slim, frail-looking humanoid figure with two long horn-like appendages coming from their head, giant violet cat-like eyes that shimmered like gemstones and a ruby embedded in their chest.

"Are you Visitors?" The creature tilted their head. "Or are you a Nightmaren? But you can't be…" Their eyes fell to Sheptilah's Oracle Stone.

"Sheptilah?" Shadow's voice called.

"O-over here," she responded. He turned to the direction of her voice and ran up to her.

"NiGHTS?" Shadow looked over the Nightmaren, "NiGHTS, it's you!"

"Shadow!" NiGHTS cheered. "How are you?"

"Is it really you or are you an illusion?" The hedgehog was skeptic.

NiGHTS floated up to and around the hedgehog and playfully pulled at his ears, "It's really me! You're at the Dream Gate!"

Shadow swatted the Nightmaren away, "So it seems."

"Dream Gate?" The witch stood, "But we're not asleep, we're astral projecting."

"I see that," NiGHTS tugged at her silver cord between their fingers, "How did you end up here?"

"The Dream Gate," she muttered to herself. Sheptilah looked around with alarm, "How can we be here?"

"I don't know, that's why I asked you!" NiGHTS became a little annoyed. "Pay attention!"

"We came here from Yggdrasil," Shadow said gruffly, "It pulled us into its trunk."

"What?!" NiGHTS became alarmed, "No way! You shouldn't jump from plane to plane or you might tear holes! That's dangerous. If worlds leak into each other you could collapse the whole thing."

"We didn't do it on purpose," Sheptilah whined, "It was an accident. We just wanted some dew."

"Hey, I recognize your kind. You're a Nannae witch, aren't you?" NiGHTS tapped her Oracle Stone with a finger, "Yeah! That's what you are. I haven't seen your race in thousands of years! Why did you stop visiting." The Nightmaren was easily distracted.

"We all died." She said flatly as she turned away from them.

"Oh." NiGHTS' mouth became a tight line. "My apologies."

"How… old are you, NiGHTS?" Shadow peered at the Nightmaren.

NiGHTS flushed. "I'm timeless!" They giggled, looking away and flapping their hand.

"How do we get out of here? We're on a time limit here." Sheptilah was growing impatient.

"You wake up; but since you're not asleep," the Nightmaren crossed their arms and looked down. "Follow your silver cord back where you came from. It should take you back to Yggdrasil eventually. I'll personally escort you around my plane!" They were excited. NiGHTS grabbed each of visitors by the hand and flew off into the glittering sky of Nightopia.

"Shadow, how do you know this person?" Tilly frowned.

"It's a long story," the hedgehog shook his head, "Don't ask."

Breathtaking views and a full moon were no match for Sheptilah's worry. How long have they been under? Time moved so differently on the astral planes. They could've been unconscious for seconds or for days.

The trio came to a leafless branch that jutted out of the ground at the edge of Nightopia.

"Oh!" NiGHTS chirped. "A root, maybe? I've never been out this far before."

"Yggdrasil!" Shadow said.

"Thank you, NiGHTS!" Sheptilah cheered.

"Any friend of Sonic's and Shadow's is a friend of mine," they smiled widely. "Come back and see me sometime, okay?"

"Sure," Tilly smiled, "Thank you, again."

NiGHTS waved goodbye to them and returned to the Dream Gate in case other visitors arrived. The human and the hedgehog together breathed a sigh of relief. They were growing tired from being too far away from their bodies.

They found themselves at the trunk of Yggdrasil in no time.

* * *

 **Big Sky**

This part of Yggdrasil housed many of the known fae species throughout the world. Bergresars lumbered by, nearly squashing the others underfoot. More of Sleipnir's descendants trotted by and brayed angrily at the bergresar who did not hear them.

Draugs, enokke and banshees milled about the crowds. Built into the tree were their homes and little market stalls that spread vertically. Floating will-o-the-wisps in every possible color lit the way.

A heavy-set hulder approached Sheptilah from behind and moved her hair out of the way. The witch jumped and turned to see who had touched her. The alluring woman mistook Sheptilah for one of her own and wanted to see the knothole in her back, as you do.

"Oh," the hulder frowned, "I see; I thought you were someone I knew but I was just making sure."

"Apologies." Sheptilah shrugged, "Do you happen to know where we can get some of the dew from Yggdrasil?"

The hulder pushed her pink hair out of her face and pointed up. "The branches are not far from here."

"You have my appreciation!" She waved as she jumped up, floating off.

"Is this trip through Wonderland finally almost over?" Shadow sighed.

"Should be." They floated to the end of the tree branch and marveled at the sheer size of the leaves. Each was big enough to cover the hut twice over. The dew that formed on the edges fell down like raindrops.

"How do we get the dew home?" Shadow reached out and touched the leaf, surprised at its thickness.

"Stay here. I'll open a portal to you." She tugged on her silver cord and was immediately drawn back to her body.

Sheptilah took a moment to wake up once rejoining her body. She groaned and rubbed her eyes, "How long was I out?"

"Fifteen minutes." Amy nodded.

"That's it?" The witch sat up and jumped off the table. "Doesn't matter. Amy, get the jar." She searched the air for a knot. When she found it she concentrated with all her might to open it to where Shadow's projection waited. "Help me pull it open, please!" Beads of sweat formed on her face from exertion.

"Seriously?" Sticks scratched her ear absentmindedly.

"Why isn't Shadow awake?" Sonic asked nervously.

"He's not back yet. I'm trying to open the portal to him and it's being difficult!" Sheptilah motioned for Eggman to come over. He awkwardly walked up behind her, took hold of her wrists and pulled.

"Open, you stupid portal!" She huffed, "Hnng!" Knuckles grabbed hold of Eggman's torso and helped pull. Even with their combined strength it wasn't enough. Amy, Sticks and Tails joined in the conga line.

"You guys look ridiculous," Sonic laughed, "Sorry I can't help. My hands are full."

Sheptilah shot a pointed look at the blue hedgehog then turned back to the knot she was trying to open. She exhaled sharply and tried one more time. Their efforts paid off and the portal to the astral plane opened horizontally, sending them all falling to the floor on top of each other.

"Graceful," Shadow's projection sneered.

"Hey, Shads!" Sonic chirped. "I got your face." He teased.

"Amy! The jar!" Tilly shouted. The portal was already closing rapidly.

The pink hedgehog dug her way out of the pile with her jar in hand. She tossed it to the witch who caught it and shoved it through the portal. She caught a couple of large raindrops and pulled her arm back in.

"Pull on your silver cord to come back," she told Shadow just as the portal shut on her. She screwed the lid on the jar tight.

In less than a minute Shadow was back in his own body. He immediately pulled Sonic's hands off his face and rubbed his cheeks.

"My face is all clammy now," Shadow complained.

"Sorry," Sonic put his gloves back on, "Your face is warm."

Sheptilah locked up the jar in a large chest that also contained the pearl needed to make the staff.

"Thank you for coming with me, Shadow." Her eyes were heavy.

"Let's not do that again, ever." He pulled his glove on.

"Understandable." The witch slumped over the chest. "Thank you, everyone."

"What was it like? Tell me!" Amy was practically standing on the tips of her toes, "What did you see?"

"NiGHTS says hello," Shadow nodded.

"You guys saw NiGHTS? I'm jealous! How're they doing?"

"They're fine," the black hedgehog stretched.

After everyone except for Eggman left Amy wrote the details down as Sheptilah dictated them. The woman was sipping a cup of black coffee to perk herself up. Astral projection takes a lot out of a person.

"Giant mermaids, banshees, yikes." Eggman brushed his mustache with his fingers.

"It sounds like an adventure." Amy put the pencil down. "Remind me not to astral project."

After a minute of silence, "Hey, Amy? Can I talk to you for a moment?" Eggman looked at the little pink hedgehog. Amy tilted her head and blinked.

"Outside." He appended.

"Alright..." Amy was suspicious. Sheptilah watched the two leave.

After he was sure they were alone he sighed. "I wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday," he rubbed the back of his head.

"What?" She wasn't sure what he was talking about.

"The roofie joke," he avoided eye contact, "It was really inappropriate of me. I said it without thinking and I want to apologize. I forget you are a kid despite how mature you act and as an adult that was really gross of me to say."

"Oh, that," she frowned and then smiled. "Apology accepted; but you do know whose fault it is that we all had to grow up really quickly, right?"

"Mine," he answered sheepishly, "I'll happily roboticize you but I draw the line at being _certain types_ of creepy." He put his hands on his hips.

"You're going soft," she grinned, "What's changed about you?"

"I can't apologize without being interrogated!" He threw up his hands. "I swear!"

Amy couldn't help but laugh. "I appreciate it. Thank you, Doctor Eggman."

"Don't mention it. I'm serious." He squinted at her from behind dark glasses.


	43. Some Nights

Hope's dorm was full. Sheptilah rested in her lap in the form of a cat while Shadow and Rouge stood behind the blonde teenager.

Hope marked off spots of unusual seismic activity on a digital map. There were several clusters in the deep ocean but because these mini quakes didn't cause damage it was shrugged off.

"Something keeps cutting our internet and phone lines in the ocean, too." She pointed to the spots she marked off in a different color. "A lot of these mini quakes are occurring near the internet lines as well; almost overlapping."

"It's not unusual for internet lines to get damaged by passing ships and sea life," Rouge shrugged, "But the quakes _are_ suspicious."

"I think it's those witch-eater things." The young girl had a very graven expression.

"Why won't Tower listen to you?" Shadow huffed, "He should know by now not to ignore you."

"Because I have no definitive proof. It's just a hunch," the girl sighed.

"The ocean, you say?" Sheptilah's ears perked up. She hopped off of Hope's lap and transformed back into her human body. She then took out her phone and snapped a photo of the laptop screen.

"Let's see," the witch searched the screen for the exact app to open.

"What are you doing?" Rouge's ears twitched.

"Using my clout." Sheptilah smirked. She texted Eggman the photo. She then called him and put him on speaker.

"Yes?" He sounded agitated. "What do you want? What's with the map?"

"Ivo," she bit her lip, "What is Akhlut up to?" She asked in Latin.

"Nothing, as you instructed the bosses to do." He responded back in the dead language.

"Do me a favor; I want you to deploy Akhlut to check those locations for damage and have him use that wiccaphage tracker you're tweaking."

Rouge looked at Shadow but all the hedgehog could do was shrug and shake his head. None of them spoke Latin.

"Huh," there was a pause; then: "I'll deploy him and some of his underlings right away. A lot of these are near his base in the Deep Blue Realm. This is concerning."

"Tell him I said he can go suck an egg." Hope scowled.

"Hope? Is that you?" Eggman asked in English. "Sheptilah! Am I on speaker? Take me off speaker!"

"Sorry… I don't speak English." she replied in a heavy Persian accent. She tried her hardest to stifle her giggles as she switched back to Latin. "Hope says to go fuck yourself."

"Aah!" Eggman shouted in frustration. "Women!" He hung up.

Sheptilah couldn't help but laugh. "He's funny when he's angry."

"So you can speak Latin," Shadow narrowed his eyes, "And so can the Doctor, apparently."

She nodded. "Which means I can yell at him over technology since we have a shared language."

"I hate that we have to work with him." Hope interjected. "So much."

"It won't be for much longer," Sheptilah made a chopping motion with her hand, "I'm already halfway to getting all the materials I need to finish the staff." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm going to go back to my hut now. I don't want that damn doctor knowing I'm here and harassing me."

"Hold on," Rouge reached for the witch, "I want to talk to you about something. Let's go for a walk."

Rouge kept her voice low until they got outside of the fortress.

"I saw you kiss him." She frowned.

"I know," Sheptilah rubbed the back of her head. "It was a friendly gesture."

"So Amy told you we saw." The bat smirked ever so slightly.

Sheptilah nodded sheepishly.

"Don't play coy, honey," Rogue put her hands on her hips and stuck out her chest, "I know you've got a crush on him."

Sheptilah held up a finger and opened her mouth as if to protest but then simply shrugged. "So what?"

"You could do better." Rouge giggled. "It's cute, though. Shadow doesn't know and I won't tell him."

" _Cute?_ How is it cute?" The witch raised an eyebrow. "It's pathetic. It's _sickening_."

"You're not the first witch to have the hots for him nor are you the first Overlander but you are the only one that ever ripped his guts out."

Sheptilah exhaled sharply. "He started it."

Rouge laughed behind her hand.

"He says I'm his only friend and he doesn't want me to die." Tilly's cheeks grew warm. "He told me that at Stratosphere."

"Oh, he likes you, too!" Rouge squealed. "That's even cuter!"

"It's not cute!"

"It's _so_ cute." Rouge grinned so widely her fangs were visible.

Sheptilah slouched forward, defeated. "I hate him so much, but I like him so much."

"I still think you can do better," the bat bit her finger trying to stifle the laugh, "But you could also do worse."

Sheptilah dragged her hand down her face. "Trust me, Miss Rouge; he and I are going to die. I keep lying to him and myself that I won't let it happen but I know deep down that's what's gonna happen. He knows it, too."

"Shadow won't let either of you die," the bat shook her head, "None of us will."

"You're sweet but it is what it is." Tilly opened a portal. "See you later!" She stepped through and closed it behind her.

* * *

Akhlut got the message. The next day he and his team embarked out to the nearest marked spot on the map to their lair location. Although he was able to survive at extreme depths he still took the precaution of putting on a dive suit with a breathing apparatus.

As he and his team approached the local internet lines he noticed that they were melted and not cut. They were not near any open thermal vents, so the only conclusion was that they were chemically destroyed.

The area was almost completely deserted save for a few antarctic crabs walking about. The seafloor should have been teeming with all kinds of life like starfish, anemones, octopi, icefish and seals. There was nothing.

"I really don't like the looks of this." Akhlut spoke into his mic.

"Grab a sample and get out of there," Eggman responded, "Immediately."

"You don't have to tell me twice." The orca muttered under his breath. He and his team made it back to the lair as quickly as possible with a small chunk of the melted fiber optics.

"Move your base of operations to the North Pole for now. I will let Tundra know you are on the way. I want everything on lockdown immediately." Eggman took a long sip from his coffee. "Cubot, remind me to do a search for the same kind of damage around this lair."

"Right away, boss." The little red robot made the note.

"What about the other Egg Bosses?" Cubot wondered.

"That is a good question." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. His eyebrows shot up and he turned around when he heard his door slide open. It was Sheptilah.

"Hello." She waved. "I came to see if Akhlut is okay."

"He and his team are fine but I've got some troubling news." He took off his glasses to show her how serious he was. "Not only is there a good amount of evidence to support Hope's theory but the whole area itself was deserted. It should be teeming with sea life but there was nothing out there."

"The wiccaphages." Tilly looked at the screen, her face wrinkled with a frown.

"It looks like they are much more intelligent than you believed. They seem to be attacking the internet lines. That's what connects all of our computers across the globe." He tapped the screen. "And it's close to where Akhlut Egg Lair is."

Orbot came in with a fresh cup of coffee for each of the Overlanders.

"Thank you." She said in somewhat hesitant English. She took a sip of the drink and winced.

"You're welcome, Miss Sheptilah." The robot replied meekly.

"Thanks." Eggman took the coffee and drank it all in one gulp. "Hmm."

"Yes?"

"I may have to bring all my Egg Bosses in-house." He typed something into his keyboard. "MARI, have Metal Sonic come home immediately."

"Yes, sir!" The AI chirped. She summoned the robot from his dormant state on the moon base. Metal ran diagnostics to make sure he was operational.

"He'll be home in about forty minutes." MARI responded. "He's just fine."

"Excellent!" Eggman was enthused. "My little robot son is coming home."

"You think of your robot as your son?" Tilly smiled and cocked an eyebrow.

" _All_ of my robots are my babies," Eggman pouted, "Even Scratch and Grounder."

"You're sweet," Sheptilah stated matter-of-factly, "When you want to be." She looked up at the screen and her face became grave again. "Can you send some robots to scout out the oceans? Satellites or something? Sorry if I'm getting my terminology mixed up… I'm still not quite sure about all the new technology."

"Satellites, huh?" Eggman tapped his chin with a finger. "I know who to call, or rather, I know who MARI should call." He grinned mischievously.

* * *

"Hey, space catz! This is Ulala coming at you live at Space Channel Five! I got some hot, hot, hot tunes for you!"

The pale, tall and pink-haired young woman sat at her DJ deck cockpit and popped a CD into the disc reader. A fresh, thrumming dance tune came on over the radio waves across the Milky Way. Her pigtails bobbed as she swayed to the music.

She noticed she had an incoming call from the emergency phone. She muted her personal mic and picked it up. "Jaguar, I swear-"

"Hello, Ulala!" MARI chirped. "Eggman is calling in that favor."

"Seriously?" Ulala frowned. "What's he want? If this is about Sonic..."

"Can we borrow your space station's satellite capabilities? GUN's too nosy about mine right at the moment. You know I wouldn't call in if it wasn't important."

"You want to use the satellite? What for?" She re-applied a new coat of lipgloss as she listened to them.

"Mobius is being systematically attacked by alien parasites," MARI texted Ulala a photo, "These things."

"Yucky," Ulala grimaced.

"GUN is still breathing down my neck so we kindly ask that your satellites scan our oceans for a while to look for any weird activity. They seem to be targeting our internet lines." Eggman shook his cup at Orbot, signaling that it was empty.

"That's it?" Ulala looked over at her deck and put another song on to play, "Alright. You're lucky we're close to that planet and can do that."

"Thanks, Ulala. You're my favorite space DJ." MARI was all a titter with excitement.

"Yeah, yeah. I want _five_ VIP tickets to Stratosphere for doing this favor, by the way! Would make a great giveaway for the radio station's listeners."

"Find me more data on these wiccaphage things and I'll send you twenty." Eggman nodded.

"You got it!" Ulala hung up the phone.

"You got girlfriends in space, now?" Tilly smiled.

"No, just one ex girlfriend." Eggman braced himself. "I am gonna summon Katella."

"Is that really a good idea?" Cubot cowered behind Orbot.

"No, but I need her help. Ulala will watch the sea and the sky, Katella will help on the ground." Eggman tented his fingers and called up the fiery redhead.

"Yes?" A gruff, slightly annoyed voice responded.

"Is this Katella the Huntress?" Eggman asked flatly.

"Eggy-weggy peachie poo!" Her entire demeanor changed. "Have you finally accepted my marriage proposal?"

"Uh, no," he shook his head, "I need your services."

 _"Is this a booty call?"_

"What? No!" His cheeks were red. "I need you to hunt some rare animal for me."

"Ooh, that's even better." She was using her seductive voice. She immediately turned her spaceship around and headed back to Mobius.

"And you can keep whatever you find." _If it doesn't kill you,_ he thought.

"Oh, my eggy-weggy, I'm already on my way." She disconnected the call with a click.

"I'll _protect_ you from her." Sheptilah teased.

"I don't think Katella is into women." He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Ruin my day, why don't you?" Tilly pouted.

* * *

"Sonic, can you keep a secret?" Amy was at Sonic's shack cooking up some chili dogs for him.

"That depends." He was playing a game on his phone while lounging on his sofa. "Who is it about?"

"The witch."

"Ah, sure then. What's up?"

"Please don't let her know I said this but she's got a crush on Eggman."

Sonic put his phone face-down on the coffee table and stood. "First it was Katella, then it was Wendy, then Thunderbolt and now _our_ resident witch?"

Amy shrugged as she stirred the chili. "I saw her kiss him on the cheek."

"Hmm… gross." Sonic said. "What do these women see in him? Besides Thunderbolt, I know she lusts for power; but the others? I don't get it."

"Love is blind." Amy added chopped garlic.

"And oblivious to the heinous war crimes he's committed."

Amy looked at him and then off in the distance. "I think it's that mustache. It mesmerizes them when it moves."

"So what do you want to do about it?" Sonic sat back down with a _whump_.

"Well." She loaded up a half dozen hot dogs with chili and brought it to Sonic. "What if we… got them together?"

"You're kidding, right?" Sonic grabbed the plate. "Thanks! Yum."

"Not kidding. She's convinced they're both going to die so we might as well make what's left of their time nice, right? And even if they both survive she'll keep him busy and under control so we can move on with our lives."

Sonic scarfed down three dogs before she could even blink. "Sounds like a bad idea, Ames. They're both adults... I really don't think you should get involved."

"But it's so romantic! The sun and the moon," her voice became airy, "Saving our planet together. Their magical bond keeping their hearts tethered no matter the distance. It's _so_ meant to be!" She sighed thoughtfully.

"What would Shadow think?"

"Bah," Amy waved Sonic's concerns off, "Mr. Grumpy will have to learn how to accept it."

"Well, it _would_ be nice to not have to deal with Eggman anymore…" Sonic chuckled. "Okay, I'm game. I have nothing else to do."

"Great! I have an idea of how to start it off, too." Amy rubbed her hands together.

* * *

Amy had convinced Sheptilah to go into the woods at dusk to collect more items. The two always chatted about ancient and modern alchemy but this time she was asking things about Tilly's culture.

"You ask the familiar for the witch's hand in marriage. If there is no familiar or if the familiar is an object then you ask the parents. If you want to marry the familiar you ask the witch." The basket bounced against Sheptilah's hip as she walked.

"So how many spouses could someone have?" Amy didn't want it to seem obvious why she was asking the questions.

"Oh, as many as you wanted." Tilly shrugged. "But most people stuck to one because sister wives and brother husbands are very hard to deal with."

"What were weddings like?" Amy's green eyes sparkled.

"At moonset the betrothed have their dominant hands tied together with silk and they have to stay like that the whole day. They exchange vows and then the party begins! Everyone who wants to go is invited and there's lots of games and dancing. It gets really funny when you're trying to jump over obstacles with your spouse and bob for fruit in water when neither of you is facing the same direction. Unless of course one of you is a leftie and the other a rightie or ambidextrous."

Sheptilah laughed. "I wish I could've seen my moms running through an obstacle course!"

"That sounds like it was a lot of fun." Amy picked up some mushrooms and put them in the basket. She could barely contain her excitement as they edged closer to their destination. She just hoped that Sonic could hold up his end.

Sonic convinced Eggman to go into the forest with him simply by saying Amy set something up for him. He didn't like lying but was perfectly okay with not telling the _whole_ truth.

Sonic and Eggman arrived to the clearing first. There was a cute picnic set up with fairy lights strung up in the trees.

"Oh Sonic, you shouldn't have." The Overlander joked. "Seriously, what's this about?"

Amy and Sheptilah came to the clearing right after. Sheptilah calmly set the basket down so she could angrily put her hands on her hips and glare daggers at the little pink hedgehog.

"Wow, _what a coincidence_ ," Sonic said flatly, "We all stumbled upon a romantic picnic." He threw up his hands dramatically, "Woe is me! I cannot stay."

"I'm about to astral project the Hell out of here." The witch said through a clenched jaw.

"What are you kids trying to do?" Eggman decided to act naive.

Amy chuckled nervously when she met eyes with her teacher and looked to Eggman. "Double date?" She sounded unconvincing.

"What?" Sonic put his hand behind his ear. "I think I hear my plants dying. I forgot to water them! Bye!" He sped off back to his house leaving a trail of rustling leaves behind him.

"I'm sorry!" Amy took a step back. "You're not mad, are you?"

Tilly's expression softened. She dropped her arms and sighed. "No, I'm not mad."

"You have really bad timing, Amy. Katella is on her way." Eggman lifted his hand to his face and smiled behind it.

"Katella?" The hedgehog raised an eyebrow.

"Ask Sonic about her. He knows who I'm talking about." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Well, she won't get here until sometime tomorrow. What's this about?"

"I, uh," Amy tapped her fingers together, "I saw Tilly and you were both really stressed about everything and thought you could use a nice picnic. I'm gonna go now… " Amy turned tail and got out of there before either of the Overlanders could respond.

Eggman waited for a moment before he spoke to make sure they were alone. "They're playing matchmaker."

"They're playing with my patience is more like it."

He gently took her hand. "We shouldn't waste food, though."

Her cheeks erupted in flames. "Please don't play with my heart." She pulled her hand back and she turned away from him.

Now that the cat was out of the bag she decided to just come clean so she could move on with her life.

"It's a stupid crush." She swallowed. "Nothing more."

"The truth is I like you, too." He half-lied.

"Ivo, please," her chest started to hurt, "When you're good you're _really good_ but when you're bad it's unforgivable."

"What is it that you like about me?" He could never pass up a chance to have his ego stroked.

"I like that you're tall," she raised her hand for emphasis, "And you are really kind when you want to be. You're thoughtful and extremely intelligent. You're patient with my iron allergy and the language barrier and…" She bit her thumbnail, "You're willing to accommodate for my shortcomings. You gave me gloves and a hard hat, winter clothes."

She cast her eyes downward. "And you even care about my health. Even from someone like you I am not used to such kindness. You destroyed our holiest heavenly body and released a plague when you did so and you've probably committed more war crimes in your short life than most other countries have combined."

"I'm not quite that prolific but I appreciate the sentiment." He stepped toward her. "So you have a crush on me because I showed you _basic human decency?_ "

"It sounds so pathetic when you put it that way."

"Tilly," he cupped her cheek with his hand, "You really _are_ my only friend. I do care, and it's not just because of the bond or whatever." _I need you to live so that I can use your magic,_ he thought.

She leaned into his hand and looked up at him. "I know you'll never change."

He grinned innocently. "What's so bad about that?"

She furrowed her brow, looked down at her Oracle Stone and then back up to him. _Well, why the fuck not,_ she thought. She stood up on the tips of her toes and pressed her lips to his.

He didn't see that coming and nearly jumped out of his skin when she did that without warning. Reflexively he leaned into the kiss and held her by the small of her back for a moment before breaking it.

She looked up at him with a mixture of fear and excitement. He didn't know what to think at that moment and every nerve felt like it ran cold. He mentally shrugged it off and pulled her back in for another chaste kiss.

 _Shadow is gonna kill me,_ he thought. _Hell, so will Katella and Thunderbolt;_ but for the moment he didn't care. He was rendered numb by the affection and felt invincible and like everything was falling into place.


	44. Black Betty

_**This chapter contains mentions of sexual assault, but no descriptions. Proceed with caution. This chapter also contains graphic violence and gore.**_

* * *

It was nice until it wasn't. She genuinely liked him but he wanted nothing more than to chain her to a wall and systematically drain her magic for his own purposes. His stomach twisted and he suddenly felt nauseous.

"Tilly," he pulled away from her, "I'm sorry, but I need to get back to work."

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

"Come back to the lair with me. I want you to meet Metal." He smoothed his mustache back into place.

"Sure… " She took a cue from him and ran her fingers through her hair to make it neater. "What about all this stuff?"

Eggman looked around at it. "I guess leave it."

"Nah, I'll pack it up and bring it back to Amy." She pushed her hair behind her ear and began to put everything away before opening up a portal to Amy's house to drop the stuff at her doorstep.

"Tearing holes in space really comes in handy, huh?" He chuckled. "I'll see you at the lair. Come in uniform."

"Ivo?" She looked at him over her shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"Forget that the kiss happened." She turned back to her work.

"Sure…" He walked back to his home feeling conflicted. He didn't necessarily feel the same way toward her but at the same time he felt guilty for wanting to hurt someone that saw the good in him; as deep down as it was.

He wondered what he was going to do next.

* * *

 **SHEPTILAH DOSSIER** … last updated 3 / 3

Well, she kissed me. It seems that I can't pretend to not know how she feels anymore. I must admit it was nice to be shown affection in that way but I can't forget my goals:

Build the Syzygy Canon (big sister to Eclipse) Destroy the wiccaphages Get a sufficient amount of Sheptilah's blood for analyzing Build a cage to keep her in Figure out how to extract the magic from the stone Gain immortality from the healing capabilities of said magic

I may not be able to beat that hedgehog but I will try to outlive him.

* * *

Sheptilah admired how sleek Metal Sonic is. "You've got your father's eyes." She joked. The robot couldn't understand her so he ignored her. She lightly ran her ungloved hand over the top of his head.

"Don't _pet_ him; he's a war machine not a toy." Eggman scolded her. He was agitated with having to call for Katella's help given their history but found Sheptilah's and Metal's presence a comfort.

"Sir?" Cubot got Eggman's attention. "Katella is here."

"Here we go… " He huffed. "Metal, stay here. Sheptilah, let's go greet our guest. I don't want her in my lair." _I hope she's cooled down_ , he thought.

They walked side-by-side to the front door. Eggman grabbed Sheptilah's arm and leaned in to her.

" _Do not under any circumstances tell Katella you are the last of your kind_ ; do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Good." He let go of her arm and they exited the lair.

Katella descended the steps of her golden boomerang-shaped spaceship which floated just above the edge of the volcanic outcrop.

Katella wore the same clothes, hairstyle and carried herself in much the same way as Eggman remembered. The only difference was the laser gun she had holstered at her thigh and the fine lines starting to form at the corner of her eyes.

"Eggy-weggy peachie poo!" She cooed. "And _friend_." she said flatly.

The witch crossed her arms. "I'm Sheptilah, the Egg Boss of this island."

"You never made me an Egg Boss," she feigned being hurt, "That's okay, though. You are still as grotesque as ever." She sighed wistfully. "I missed you."

"You're here on a job." Eggman reminded her.

"Can't I have a little fun?" Katella shrugged and shook her head in such a way that her hair swished like a supermodel's. "Or is that what _this_ Egg Boss is for?" The redhead was a _little_ jealous.

Sheptilah looked down her nose at the rude woman, her lip slightly curled in a snarl.

"Touched a nerve?" The huntress smirked.

"Katella, focus." Eggman was losing patience. "You will be _monetarily_ compensated for your work."

"I don't want your money; you know this!" Katella pushed out her sizeable chest. "I just want _you_." She walked up to him and pointed at his heart. "Why did you dump me again?"

"I didn't dump you; It was a restraining order because you broke my arm in three places," Ivo grumbled, "I evicted you with great prejudice."

"It was one lovemaking session gone wrong a _decade_ ago," the woman shrugged, "I apologized, didn't I?"

"That's not what it was; I never wanted that." He stopped himself from talking further.

Sheptilah frowned; Eggman was extremely uncomfortable and she could sense It. Her eyebrow twitched slightly but she wanted to maintain composure. In times of war sometimes you had to form uneasy alliances.

"Oh please; you _liked_ it up until that point." Katella put her hair behind her ear with a finger.

"You never asked and you never took no for an answer. You just did what you wanted and it took my arm hanging on by a thread for you to stop."

Sheptilah was wide-eyed. She involuntarily let out a low growl and balled her fists. She finally understood _._

"So what's the deal with these witch-eating things anyhow?" Katella pulled out a mini computer from a hidden pocket and opened it.

Eggman took out his phone and sent Katella the dossier on the wiccaphages. "I have Ulala looking out at the oceans. I just need your skills finding them on land. This is very serious-" He was cut off.

Katella took a running start and knocked Eggman to the ground with a very violent tackle. She rubbed her cheek against his and giggled. "I missed you so much; I'll be gentle this time." She planted many kisses on his face before he could push her off.

Sheptilah reached down and grabbed the woman by the roots of her hair and threw her into the side of the building.

The witch took off her pink coat and let it drop to the ground. "Are you okay, Ivo?"

Eggman sat up. "I'm fine." He rubbed his throbbing temples. "Don't further engage her."

Katella stood up and balled her hands into fists, seemingly unhurt by the heavy impact. "Hey! How dare you touch me!"

Sheptilah stepped between her and Eggman. "Lay a hand on him again and I will decapitate you." She smirked. "It's my job as an Egg Boss to protect him."

"What did I _just_ say!?" Eggman stood.

"Who _are_ you?" Katella was sizing up the woman as all good hunters do.

"I'm the resident witch." She put her hand on her hip and looked Katella over.

"More like the resident _corpse_." She pulled her gun from its holster and fired it at Sheptilah. The beam was too fast to dodge completely so Tilly was merely grazed at the shoulder.

"Stop!" Eggman yelled, but it fell on deaf ears.

Sheptilah ran in a zig-zag motion like GUN had taught her with her hair growing to absurd lengths as she did so. In a flash Katella was being crushed by the silvery tendrils. She dropped the gun and it hit the ground with a clatter. The huntress was always prepared and managed to cut herself free with a pocketknife.

She lunged at the surprised witch and sliced at her face.

Sheptilah grabbed her by the wrist before the knife could be plunged into her eye and flipped Katella onto her back. The witch straddled her and punched at the redhead's face. Katella hissed and made several cuts to Sheptilah's arms with the knife.

"We need your help!" Sheptilah winced at the burning cuts. "So stop fucking around."

Katella threw her weight and rolled over on top of Sheptilah. The witch let up a tendril of hair and pulled the knife away from the other woman and threw it into the ocean.

"I should beat the life out of you and sell your remains to the highest bidder." Katella grimaced. She pummeled at the witch's face with her bare fists. "Animals like you belong in a cage."

"I'll show you an animal!" She howled. Sheptilah shapeshifted her teeth into many rows of razor sharp fangs. Katella was mid-punch when the transformation took place that it connected her fist directly into the maw and cut up her knuckles so badly her fingers were hanging on by the _thinnest_ of tendons.

"What the _fuck_...?" Katella scrambled back, holding the wrist of her shredded hand. "What are you!?" Blood poured freely out of her destroyed limb.

Sheptilah spat out Katella's finger. "I'm your worst fucking nightmare." Her face further contorted to where the grotesque lamprey mouth took up her entire face, skin twisting around it like it was being sucked into a vortex. Sheptilah sat up and crawled on all fours slowly toward the other Overlander.

"Tilly, stop!" Eggman yelled.

The witch looked over at him when he called to her and the distraction was enough for Katella to kick the woman in the jaw. Sheptilah rolled across the outcrop and yelped in pain.

Eggman ran behind Katella and squeezed her with his mighty arms. "Stop this right now!"

"I like when you play rough!" The redhead smiled. She kicked him in the shin with her heel causing him to drop her.

Before Katella could do any further damage Sheptilah impaled her with her hair curled into a long, deadly lance; the tip of which was inches from Ivo's chest. The huntress wanted to scream but punctured lungs made that impossible and instead the smallest of anguished breaths gurgled from her throat like a death rattle.

The witch panted heavily, sweat coating her brow. "Remember this moment, Katella." The lance was now holding her dying body up several feet off the ground. Sheptilah picked up the severed finger and carried it to the woman. She pulled the hair from the woman's torso and wrapped it around her to heal her. The finger was reattached and Katella freed.

The huntress was mortified.

"You don't deserve mercy." Sheptilah tried to steady her breath. "Lay _one_ finger on him again and I will kill you and bind your soul to the smallest stone and drop it into the deepest ocean so that you cannot _ever_ find peace in the afterlife."

Katella backed up.

"Go hunt those wiccaphages and do not return until you find something. Now!" Sheptilah pointed to the ship.

Katella was sHell-shocked and obeyed the demand. She ran to the safety of her ship and took off within a minute.

Sheptilah went to Eggman and healed his leg. "Are you alright?"

"Thanks. Thanks..." He was a little frazzled. He saw her cuts, though mostly superficial, weren't healing.

 _It must've been a steel blade_ , he thought. "Come inside, I'll clean you up."

* * *

Tilly sat topless on the kitchen counter holding a towel to her bare chest while Eggman cleaned her wounds and applied bandages to them. Metal stood by and supervised.

"I should've killed her." She stared at a spot on the wall.

"You showed _considerable_ restraint." Eggman squeezed one of the wounds to check for any debris and to draw more blood for study later, but he did not let Sheptilah know this.

She winced in pain. "Ow..."

"I'm sorry." He wiped the blood away with some cotton balls, finished wrapping her arms up and then tended to the thin cut on her cheek.

"It'll be healed within the hour," she said, "You don't have to bother with that one."

"Nonsense." He applied a small bandage to her cheek. "It makes you look tough!"

She smiled shyly. "I'm sorry for everything."

"Don't be," his expression was bittersweet, "Thanks for sticking up for me."

"My pleasure, Doctor." She grinned. "It's my job to protect you."

"Alright, you're all done here." He felt turmoil churn in his stomach; guilt for wanting to drain her for all she's worth and for putting her in the situation with Katella in the first place.

Sheptilah pulled him in for a hug and laid her head in the crook of his neck. He realized she was trembling. She gripped his jacket, holding on for dear life.

 _This woman really, genuinely likes me,_ he thought. _My only flesh-and-blood friend in this whole world._

"Tilly?" He kept his hands on the countertop.

"Had I known I wouldn't have been interested in her or joked about it."

"Listen." He stroked her hair with one hand. "It's okay."

"I should've known. I should've…" Her breath hitched.

"Come on. Don't cry on my leather jacket. It's dry-clean only!" He wrapped his other arm around her. "It's okay."

"I couldn't tell. I didn't know. We're bonded and I had no idea."

"Because I'm really good at hiding things, honey. It's just how I am."

Her heart skipped a beat when he called her that. Honey. Sweet, _sticky_ honey.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Tilly."

She pulled back and looked at him with wet eyes. He let her rest her cheek against the palm of his hand, using his thumb to wipe away a tear.

Something overtook him and he pressed his lips to hers. She let her grip loosen before tightening around him again. She pulled him in closer with her legs wrapped around his hips.

He deepened the kiss, going so far as to gently push her onto the counter top. He ran his fingers through her hair, enjoying the scent of the herbs she brushed through it every morning. He recognized lavender and oranges, but little else.

He peppered her jaw with tender kisses, slowly moving to her neck.

"Mmn.. Ivo…" Sheptilah huffed. "You're emotionally compromised. Maybe we shouldn't-" She was interrupted by him grinding his groin against hers.

He grabbed a corner of the towel and slowly pulled it down but didn't get very far.

"Excuse me." Metal Sonic said.

The sudden noise startled the woman. She broke into a fit of giggles.

"I'm sorry." Ivo returned the laughter and lifted her back up. "I forgot he was there."

"Unbelievable." MARI beeped from the gauntlet.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away."

"Don't be." She smoothed down her hair and jumped down from the counter. She snapped her fingers and was now back in her simple black dress. "Thank you for patching me up." She handed him the towel. He put the bloody cotton balls in it and put the bundle aside.

"Please stay the night," his mouth was a tight line, "I'm worried she might come back."

"Of course. I call dibs on the sofa!" She grinned.

"Well, I don't think _I'm_ going to sleep tonight so we should just watch a little TV." He suggested.

He decided to throw the bloody cotton balls and towel away and the turmoil immediately eased.

For the next couple of hours they watched a few programs together in the dark. Although she couldn't understand most of it she still enjoyed the marvel that was moving pictures. They dozed off together somewhere between an infomercial for an egg cuber and a sponge that supposedly sucks up anything liquid.

Every once in a while she reached for his hand and loosely clasped on a few of his fingers. At first he didn't reciprocate but after a few tries he finally held her hand properly, fingers interlocked.

Soon after Tilly fell asleep with her head on his thigh and his hand on her shoulder.

Metal protectively stood in the corner and went into sleep mode. Orbot came in and saw the two humans were sleeping soundly. He turned off the TV and brought out a cozy blanket and threw it on them.

For the time being things remained peaceful.


	45. Majestic

Eggman woke to find he was alone. At some point the witch had awoken before he did and went back to her hut. His loneliness and guilt returned in full swing and decided to ease the emotional pain with material gain.

Sheptilah's reward for taking out the trash, so to speak, was a brand new iron cauldron. Truthfully he wanted to avoid going back to the ziggurat for the old one at any cost. Throwing together scrap iron and shaping it into a giant pot took no real effort on his part.

When he delivered the thousand-pound monstrosity she was confused by its cream color.

"Is this a giant ghost pumpkin?" She cocked an eyebrow, "Or a giant egg?"

"No, this is a cauldron-crucible hybrid."

"A crucible?!" She laughed. "I'm not going to be _smelting_."

"Where do you want it set down?" It was hooked under the little Egg Mobile he flies in and it was straining the vehicle.

Sheptilah pointed to a spot next to her hut that was recently cleared. Eggman gently set the cauldron down and got off of the mobile.

"This baby is iron on the inside and coated with porcelain on the outside." He patted the side of it hard. It was so thick it made no sound. "The porcelain coating is so you can touch it."

"That's so thoughtful," she smiled, "Do you know _why_ our cauldrons are iron?"

He shook his head.

"It's to trap the magic in so it can cook itself and not fly off everywhere." She leaned against it, "Thanks for this. I'm eager to get started on making the staff." She could barely contain her excitement.

"What else do you need for it?"

"I have the rings, the pearl, the metals," she counted off on her fingers, "All I'm missing is the permafrost."

Sheptilah opened a portal to the cave where the Blossoming Snow still laid rest. She stepped into it and removed a large chunk of ice from the wall with magic and ran back through the portal.

"C-cold!" She shuddered, "But now I've got ice!" She held the piece up proudly. "Stay here, I'm going to go get Amy!" The witch placed the ice in the cauldron and ran off to get the pink hedgehog.

She soon returned with a very out-of-breath Amy.

"Maybe I should just move in with you." The hedgehog sighed, beads of sweat sparkling on her forehead.

Sheptilah ran into her hut and pulled out the large chest with all the items in it.

"One golden apple," she held up the gold statuette of a red delicious by the stem and dropped it in, "Five golden rings," she named off the items one by one as they went into the pot.

"Eternal fire." She snapped her fingers and summoned a small flame to her fingertip and dropped that into the mixture.

"And finally… witch blood." She held out her arm and rolled up her sleeve. With her other hand she reached into her headspace and pulled the boline from it.

"Does it say how much you need?" Amy was nervous.

"Just enough." The witch dragged her blade across the length of her arm and the blood poured freely from the wound. She let it flow for a moment before healing the cut. Amy noticed she was all bandaged up but didn't ask about it.

The items in the pot began to spark and bubble.

"There," Sheptilah put the lid on it, "Now it's gotta sit for a month or two before it's done forming itself."

"We have to wait _that_ long?" Eggman furrowed his brow. "Well, that gives me time to do other stuff."

"Hey, is this place open yet?" A male gogoba of small stature walked up to the group, "You still take random items for trade, don't you? I got a bum leg and would like you to fix it." He patted his messenger bag that hung off his shoulder.

Sheptilah put the bloody weapon behind her back and smiled innocently, "Uh, sure! One moment; follow me." She instructed the gogoba. He limped inside with her while she wrote this stuff down in her grimoire.

* * *

Meanwhile outside of the hut Amy and Eggman were speaking quietly.

"What happened that she's all busted up?" Pink eyebrows were knit with worry.

"She got in a fight with Katella. Sheptilah won. It was pretty bad," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"What provoked the fight?"

He shook his head, "Katella deserved it. That's all you need to know."

Amy cocked an eyebrow in response.

The gogoba ran out of the hut and shook his leg. "It's like new!" He shuffled a little and did the Charleston. Sheptilah came out behind him and clapped joyfully at his reaction.

"Thank you! Bye!" The chinchilla-like furry ran off and clicked his heels together in between hops.

" _So..._ how was your date." Amy wiggled her eyebrows mischievously.

Sheptilah's smile became a tight frown. "Nothing happened because we have work to do."

"Yeah, I saw the items were at my doorstep by the time I got back to my house." Amy frowned.

"Amy," Eggman stooped down a little, "Tilly and I are friends and that's more than I deserve."

Amy shrugged, "That's fine, as long as you're both happy, I guess."

Sheptilah nodded, hair bobbing. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see what it was. A few more people looking for magical help walked up to the hut.

"I'll get going." Eggman was feeling uncomfortable.

"Thank you again!" She waved to him and then turned to care for the visitors.

* * *

He couldn't get her off his mind. Instead of getting any actual work done he decided to exercise. His workout clothes were not much different from his swimming clothes and fit him much more loosely than before.

An hour on the treadmill followed by twenty minutes of cool-down stretches wasn't enough of a distraction. Orbot and Cubot would come into the gym now and again to bring him a sports drink or a fresh towel.

He applied chalk to his hands, shoulders and neck in preparation for weightlifting. With a reliable robot behind him as a spotter he lifted four and five hundred pound weights with little effort.

"More weight." He demanded of the robot. It obliged, bringing the weight up to seven hundred. It still was no challenge.

It wasn't until he had to lift two thousand pounds of combined weight that he struggled a bit. The burning in his muscles felt cleansing. The deep breathing, huffing and profuse sweating reminded him of something more lewd and upset him.

"Boss?" MARI spoke.

"What?" He spat.

"I read your dossier. I think you should go for it."

"Huh?"

"Go for it. Monitoring her vitals when she's close to you is _easy_. She's hot, wet and open for you. Knock it out of the park, man."

"MARI- stop being disgusting. Who even allowed to you access _that_ data on the gauntlet?"

" _You_ did, sir."

"Ugh. Doesn't matter; I can't bother with that kind of thing."

"She's nuts about you. How often does that happen?"

"It's too risky." _And I am in no way good enough._

"Then you should at least tell her you have no interest in pursuing her. You're leading the poor creature on."

* * *

Sheptilah packed some sweets she made for Eggman into a basket and went to his lair. She was greeted at the door by Metal Sonic who looked at the basket suspiciously.

"I _told_ you she's a friendly." Eggman came up the hall and gently pushed Metal aside.

"I wanted to make sure you were feeling okay after yesterday so I brought you some candies and cakes." She held up the goodies.

"A witch after my own heart." A _nd arteries,_ he thought.

They sat across from each other in the dining room and snacked on the foods. Honey bread, pineapple candies and peach cakes spiced with cinnamon made the room smell like a bakery.

"Obviously I grew the pineapples and peaches myself with the aid of a lot of magic," she nibbled on a piece of cake, "But I had to trade for the flour."

"I can't wait to see what you can do when you get your hands on cacao pods," he grinned. "This is really good."

"Thank you." She blushed.

He felt guilty again, the back of his neck burning and his stomach in a knot.

He took a sip of coffee, "Can you help me with my garden? Stuff keeps dying out there."

But he certainly didn't feel guilty enough to stop asking for favors.

"Sure, I'd be happy to."

After they finished eating he brought her to a dying young white willow tree whose branches hung limply in the breeze. The plants around it were wilted and equally sad-looking.

"Ivo, I think your problem is you're trying to plant a tree on stone." She tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Tree roots need to spread out." She stretched her arms for emphasis.

"White willows tolerate seaspray and sun well; that's why I chose it. It shouldn't be dying."

"When was the last time you had the soil tilled?"

"Last week," he sulked, "I think I just got a sick tree."

Tilly touched her stone and pulled magic from it. She laid her hand flat against the tree, giving it the energy. In a moment the tree shot up dozens of feet and branched open like an umbrella.

The flowers at its roots perked up and multiplied into a small field of colorful shapes swaying in the ocean breeze.

"Oops," Tilly backed up, "I gave it too much!"

"Well, that's one way to fertilize a garden," he stepped over a bunch of white cosmos, "I'm going to have to do some major weed whacking to get this back under control."

The tree suddenly burst into flowers with a loud WOOSH!

"I just wanted it to perk up a little and it exploded," she bit her lip, "I hope you don't have any pollen allergies."

"If I did I would be dead right about now. If I wake up to a jungle tomorrow you better come by with a machete and fix it." He chuckled. "That healing magic could make you live forever, couldn't it?"

"Maybe, but why would you want to live forever?" She turned to him.

"Why not?" He bent down and picked up a daisy and put it behind her ear. "I'm pretty sure life is more fun than death."

"Everyone I've ever loved is On The Other Side." She shrugged.

He grabbed her by the hands and started a waltz, "Let's not talk about death. MARI, some mood music, if you please."

"Hmm," the AI wondered aloud. She decided on some slow Latin guitar music.

They danced together with him in the lead for a while to the quiet music playing from his gauntlet.

"So you're lucky to have me as a _friend_ , huh?" She smirked at him.

"Oh, yes," he dipped her, "My darling, I don't deserve a second of your time."

The witch smiled, her slightly crooked teeth making her appear more youthful. "It's not a waste when I'm with you. You're always full of surprises. What if I said I wanted to go further…?"

She wanted nothing more than to make love to him among the blooming flowers in the moonlit garden.

The guilt washed over him again. He looked off at the sparkling ocean rolling in the distance. He decided he couldn't trust himself around her anymore and needed to get rid of her. There was a long pause before Sheptilah broke the silence.

"What's wrong?" She looked him over. "Why are you upset?"

"Sheptilah… " He exhaled sharply. "I know how you feel about me but you do know that a leopard cannot change its spots, right?"

"I know I could never change you," she gripped his bicep gently, "I wouldn't want to. I like you for the good aspects of your personality." She lifted her leg a bit so that her thigh touched his. "Is it safe to say you have romantic interest in me, too?"

He inhaled sharply and looked at her for a moment before pushing her away. "You're a stupid woman."

"What?" Her eyes were wide. "Ivo… "

"Maybe stupid is a strong word. You are naive. Don't bother with your feelings for me or anyone else." He looked away.

"Ivo, why are you acting like this? You pulled me into a dance and now you're telling me I'm an idiot?" She held one arm across her chest with her hand on her shoulder.

He looked up at the moonless night sky. "It would just be you self-harming if you let your feelings get any further."

MARI stopped the music.

"Self harm?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't understand. I know you're not the most celebrated man in the world but you're decent enough to me and my familiar."

"When I first learned of your healing capabilities my initial thought was to lock you in a box and bleed you dry." He swallowed hard. "I even keep a dossier on information about you so I don't forget details."

"Bleed me dry?" She took a step back. "You were going to _kill_ me?"

"No, not _kill_." _I might as well confess everything,_ he thought. _In for a penny, in for a pound._

"The idea was to keep you alive and compliant enough with drugs or anti-witchcraft runes; or, if it came to it, keeping Shadow captive somehow."

"You were going to hurt my familiar? Your own family?" She spoke through a clenched jaw.

"It wouldn't be the first time I hurt my own family. Just ask my niece." He shrugged. The confession only made his heart heavier and chest tighter.

She ran her fingers over her throat, remembering the first and last time he threatened her life.

"I've been scheming for a while to figure out how to get a sample of your blood for testing and when you were all cut up yesterday I thought that it was my golden opportunity. I decided against it."

He waited for her to say something but she didn't. A lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"Even back at Stratosphere I played like I was a sad, lonely man to win your favor so you would trust me. I didn't think you'd actually see romantic potential in me, of all people." He wouldn't look at her.

"Not that long ago I even started sketching out devices I could keep you trapped in so I could squeeze every last bit of magic out of you. If it wasn't for that damned Oracle Stone having the capability to explode and kill everyone I would've already ripped it off your chest."

Her breath became labored. "I figured at first you had that thought but after everything we've been through in these last few months you still had abusing my powers on your mind? You were going to do inhumane things to me…"

He could feel her staring daggers into his back.

"I'm telling you this because I respect you enough to tell you to seek romance elsewhere. Like I said back at your house, I do not deserve your friendship, time or protection."

"Was anything you did for me genuine or did it have some subtle flavor of self-serving for yourself?"

"Everything I've ever done was for my own benefit. Always."

"Except this."

"Yes," he sighed, "Except this."

She pulled the flower out from behind her ear and flicked it away. "So why now? Why would you tell me this now instead of keeping it to yourself like you should have?"

"Katella said some horrible things about you to your face but you still kept cool because you knew I needed her help. It was only when you defended me from Katella's amorous wrath I realized how much you've put up with and forgiven and risked just for _my_ safety.

"You're the one person on this whole goddamned planet that genuinely cares about me without really expecting anything in return for it. I like you and respect you enough to tell you this so you won't waste anymore time or energy on me. Move on and find someone better. You're young, vibrant, beautiful, smart, all that. Go find someone better."

She had no words. She simply opened a portal to the Blossoming Snow and stepped through. Eggman felt the icy rush of arctic wind blow against his back and he turned around to catch see she left without her sealskin cloak.

He sat in the flowers. He felt numb and empty and realized his mistake too late.

She then jumped from the arctic to GUN and went straight to Shadow's dorm. He immediately understood her anguish and embraced his cosmic sister tightly.


	46. Syzygy

_**[This chapter is sexually explicit. If you're not comfortable with that you can skip it. This chapter contains graphic gore.]**_

* * *

Sheptilah awoke with a start. She had fallen asleep under a full moon but awoke to a waxing, pale yellow one. Was I asleep for days? She wondered. That's when the realization hit her: the lunar eclipse was this month, not next month.

She had fallen asleep outside under the lunar eclipse and completely absorbed the blood moon's energy. The cauldron continued to bubble nearby as if nothing had happened.

She looked down at her hands and saw her skin was vibrating slightly. Her chest heaved with fear of the raw, animalistic power that now filled her stone. The nails on her hands and feet extended into points and she felt her jaw change shape to accommodate the extra rows of sharp teeth in her mouth.

"No, no, no!" She cried to herself. "Oh _gods_ , no."

"Sheptilah!" She heard Amy's voice call from nearby. "Tilly!" The hedgehog pushed through the brush.

The witch scooted back, covering her mouth with her hands. "Don't come any closer, Amy!"

"I've been looking for you! You're missing the lunar eclipse!" The hedgehog panted, trying to catch her breath. "Sheptilah?"

"No, I didn't miss it," there was a low, involuntary growl that came from the witch's throat. "Leave!" The primal urges were rising now with increased fervor and Sheptilah was afraid she'd kill the little pink hedgehog.

Amy froze in place. "Tilly…?" Her blood turned to ice. Sheptilah's eyes were no longer lavender but instead a horrifying gold, glowing like twin suns on the horizon.

The woman slinked away deeper in the woods and hoped she wouldn't run into anyone else.

* * *

Thousands of miles away at GUN, Shadow's fur stood on end. His ears were completely stiff and swiveled in all directions.

"Is something wrong?" Rouge looked over and saw him acting strangely.

"Something is wrong with my witch." He absentmindedly scratched at the white tuft on his chest.

"Do you want to go check it out?" Rouge was concerned.

"... No." He decided that if it was dire enough she would summon him. "She's probably angry about something."

* * *

Sheptilah was wilder now, hair dragging behind her covered in woodland debris and mud.

She ran around on all fours; her legs having taken the shape of that of a dog or a cat but her arms remained the same, causing her to move unevenly across the ground.

Her breath was heavy and strained. Strangely enough she wasn't feeling a bloodlust like she anticipated but instead she suffered the more traditional kind of lust.

She ran great distances and jumped between trees to try and ease the rush of energy but it was no use.

She had no choice but to obey her body.

She fled to the lair, flying across the water and climbing up the outcrop. She stepped on the hot, bubbling lava without injury. She quickly raked her elongated fingers through her hair to get the grime out of it. With every last bit of willpower she focused on her body and returned to her natural shape.

She ran her tongue over her teeth and flinched. She still had rows and rows of razor-sharp fangs in her mouth and cut her own tongue.

"Fuck." She said to herself. She brushed off her dress and entered the lair.

* * *

Eggman had been keeping to himself for months now; not even speaking to the Egg Bosses. He was in one of his labs surrounded by large piles of used paper each with intricate weapon designs. When he wasn't killing time lifting weights he was modifying Metal Sonic to be impervious to wiccaphage attacks.

His work designing the Syzygy cannon, the 'big sister' of the Eclipse cannon, was nearly complete. He foolishly kept drawing Sheptilah in the margins of his blueprints, thinking about her and frustrating himself knowing he'd have to redraw everything from scratch.

The last time he had seen her was in March after he broke her heart and ruined his own chances at happiness. It was already June. _If I had only kept my damned mouth shut,_ he thought.

Sheptilah entered the lair and skulked around, following the smell of Eggman's cologne. On all fours with her nose to the floor she must have looked hysterical. Like a wolf tracking prey, she silently approached him.

"Doctor," she said through gritted teeth, "I came to see how you were doing."

He was slightly startled by the sudden speaking of another but didn't flinch.

"You disappear for weeks on end and return when I have no time for you. I'm very busy." He did not look up from his work.

She struggled to maintain her shape. Her lower half was warm but her upper half felt freezing and she desperately wished for a sweater. She went up to him and gently squeezed his shoulders. "Unfortunately, you will have to make time for this."

He nearly jumped out of his skin at her touch. He kicked off the leg of his desk to turn his chair around and looked at her. Her cheeks were dewy and flushed, her fingers twitching and her hair a little frizzy.

"The _Hell_ happened to you?"

"Unfortunately I was exposed to a lunar eclipse. I woke up about halfway through it. Amy was supposed to remind me of when it was but I suppose she forgot."

"Why are you talking with your jaw shut? Wait, the eclipse was _tonight?_ "

"Yes." She lifted the hem of her dress and straddled him in the chair, which wasn't difficult as there were no armrests.

He felt a rock form in his throat and in his pants. She hooked her thumb into one of the straps of her dress and let it fall down over her shoulder, exposing a warm breast. Her body was a little different from when he last saw her. She had gained a good amount of weight and filled out nicely, with some extra padding here and there. She looked much happier and healthier than when he first met her.

"Is this a joke?" He frowned. "It isn't funny."

The witch's fingers began to turn into claws again so she quickly wrapped her arms around him to hide that fact.

"This is no joke. I would never do something so cruel." She bucked her hips against him. "I need your help. See, the red moon makes a Nannaeic behave like their true selves. For most of us it meant being violent."

Eggman swallowed hard.

"For me it seems to be split between anger and arousal. Please help me. You're the only person I trust to help with this."

"Can't you go prowl for somebody else?" His growing erection was struggling against the tightness of his pants. _Note to self_ , he thought, _buy sweatpants. Buy fucking sweatpants!_

"What am I going to do? Walk into GUN and ask for a brave volunteer with an up-to-date life insurance policy?" She rolled her shoulder so the other strap fell over, exposing the other breast. "Ivo, please." Her voice breathy. She leaned forward and pressed her cheek to his. " _Please_."

The pressure of her thighs around him felt like a trap. A wonderful, supple trap he wasn't sure he could escape. She continued to grind herself against his hardened cock, brief shudders of pleasure running up her body made her moan.

"Sheptilah." He put his hands on her hips, initially intending to push her away but instead they just lingered there. He was just as distracted by the sensation of having this woman rub up against him.

"My energy has to go somewhere," she kissed his neck, "It can't fly off freely. It may hurt someone. Trying to keep it in is hurting me right now."

This was torture for Eggman. Not since Lucinda has someone captured his black little heart like this and he was afraid it wasn't really him, but the bond. She already explained to him a while back that anything they felt was their own; but he didn't entirely believe her.

He turned his head away, exposing more of his neck for her tongue to dance across. His quiet groans, almost purrs, from the sensation encouraged her to keep going. She nipped playfully at his flesh, careful to not break it.

The man lives and breathes artificiality; creating robots that pretend to be alive and lying to the whole world that he is this big, confident and powerful Overlander. However, the very concept that his own personal feelings weren't real shook him to the core.

He worried that this same thing affected the witch, that she didn't really like him but rather the bond was forcing them into love; especially after confessing all of the heinous things he had planned for her.

 _You cannot unring a bell._

"I wanted to tell you how I felt for a while, now. I just… didn't have the courage to." She rubbed up against him again and moaned quietly. He had the urge to cover her Oracle Stone with his hand but knew it would hurt them both.

"I can't." He sighed and pushed her away. He then put her dress back up where it belonged. "I can't, Sheptilah. I can't help you."

"I need the release. I haven't been touched in five thousand years," her skin began to vibrate ever so slightly, "I want to be with you. I know you need the release, too."

"This isn't you. You _don't_ want this." His hands shook.

"But I do, Ivo. I've just been terrified to tell you how I feel. I've wanted to be with you for a long time, now. I want you to be more than just my friend."

"Don't be stupid. This is _me_ we're talking about. You hate me, don't you? You'd regret it." He swallowed. " _We'd_ regret it." He gently brushed her hair out of her face with his hand.

"Are you playing hard to get or are you being sincere?" A low growl came out of her throat, but she still kept her teeth together. "Because I'm happy to play along if you need 'convincing'."

"I'm being sincere. The answer is no."

That was that. She gave up on trying to maintain her form and dismounted. The energy bouncing wildly inside her changed again. She became more like a wraith than a monster as the ends of her hair became transparent and floated like that of a ghost. Her hands and feet were stained purple like they were dipped in ink, but were thankfully no longer clawed.

She crouched on the floor, facing away from him.

"Is it… because I look like this?" She looked over her shoulder at him. "Are you afraid I'll hurt you? I wouldn't."

"A little; but the main reason is because I don't trust that you won't hate me more after the fact." He tried to calm himself by breathing in and out very slowly.

"If you change your mind I will be waiting in your room." She dissipated into a white form not unlike the wiccaphages and slipped out of the lab.

 _Don't put your dick in crazy,_ he thought. _That's what the kids say._

He paused for a minute to think. What would happen if he didn't 'help' her? She did say it was hurting her but what did _that_ even mean?

"O-Orbot? Cubot?" He spoke into his gauntlet. "Can you come here for a moment?"

His little robots floated into the room not long after. He crossed his legs to hide his erection from them.

"Yes, your roundness?" The yellow one asked.

"Calculate the number of characters that die in horror movies immediately after having sex."

"Accessing…" Orbot looked as if he was staring off into the distance. "Foreign or domestic?"

"All."

"Three hundred and forty two humans, seventy six Mobians." Cubot shrugged, "Why?"

"Out of how many movies?"

"Why?"

"Just answer the question!"

"Three hundred and three individual movies." Orbot looked at his brother.

"That's a seventy-two-point-five percent casualty rate," he huffed, "Boys; I'm going to die tonight."

"I'm sorry?" Cubot backed up. "Boss, have you been staying up seventy four hours at a time again?"

"I'll call for an ambulance." Orbot put his arm out over Cubot protectively.

"No, I'm alright." Eggman stood, causing his robots to shriek when they saw what he was hiding.

* * *

His room wasn't far from the lab he was working in. He quickly shuffled over and stood outside the door and hesitated. He could see there were beads of condensation on the outside. Ivo looked down and saw a slight vapor escaping from under the door.

"Sheptilah?" He quietly called. "Tilly?"

The door slid open. Inside the room was misty and freezing cold. She turned her head to face him and he saw her eyes were golden and bright. They resembled an oncoming vehicle on the highway, threatening to run him down.

"Your room is different than I remember. Your bed is much larger and your room is more… homey."

He stepped in and shut the door, "I wanted to share my life with someone special. Specifically I wanted to share my life with you, so I tried to make my home more comfortable. I guess I was a fool."

"You _are_ a fool. You've been sharing your life with me since you found me." The smoky vapor started to take the shape of wolves circling the bed. That is when he noticed she was already naked.

She seemed calmer and more in control. What he couldn't see is she had a deathgrip on the mattress; her nails were curved claws that extended two feet into the bed. She shifted her position so that she seemed relaxed.

"I mean in a more _domestic_ sense. Remember when you asked if I shared romantic feelings? I did- I do."

"Then come to me and take what's yours."

"What did you mean by sharing the energy?" He hesitated before making his way to the bed and sat on the edge, taking off his gauntlet.

The witch drew her knees up. "It means that I need my excess energy to go somewhere."

"Will it hurt me?" He took off his jacket and let it fall on the floor.

"Just the opposite." She smiled. She made a noise like she was choking; her energy shifting again. Everything was calm for a moment and she lifted her normal-looking hands from the mattress and sat up.

Eggman paused for a moment before pulling off his shirt revealing the results of his workouts and a chest full of curly hair. He removed his gloves, undid his belt and unzipped his pants. He felt relief now that his stiff cock wasn't trapped in his ridiculously tight clothes.

"Hmm, you look really good," she smirked, "But I think I like you better more rotund. More to hold."

"Really, now?" Ivo snorted. "It sounds like you'd want me no matter how I appear."

"I've wanted to do this with you for a long time, now. Since we were at Stratosphere." She pushed her hair behind her ear and crawled over to him. Proportionately Ivo was a large man so his cock followed suit. It was longer and thicker than what she had last seen, which made her a bit nervous.

"The way you ran your hands down my hips woke something in me. You made me so happy that night. There were other days when I ached for your touch and I desperately wanted to be intimate with you at the worst times."

"Why didn't you say anything? I would've _happily_ obliged." He kicked off his boots. He reached into his nightstand and pulled out a wrapped condom.

"What's that thing?"

"Protection." He put it on.

"Ah." She acted like she understood. "... from what?"

"Diseases and you getting pregnant." Once he was satisfied with its position he took off the rest of his clothes and moved toward her.

"I can't get pregnant by accident." She felt the energy shift again and she winced. "I can control that, and I cannot get sick."

"I will feel better wearing it." He took off his eyeglasses and put them on the nightstand. His evil little heart was racing, threatening to burst out of his chest.

She pushed him onto the bed, his head hitting the pillows with a quiet thump. She then straddled him with his cock in her hand.

"No foreplay?" He pouted.

"There isn't much time- "

He interrupted her. "Promise me something." He swallowed hard. He gripped her hips, admiring how soft they were.

"Yes?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Promise me Shadow won't kick down the door and kill me." He smiled uneasily. The witch's eyebrows were upturned and then she laughed, exposing rows of sharp teeth not unlike the lamprey form she assumed when fighting Katella.

"Can you promise Thunderbolt won't come in and kill _me?_ " She looked over her shoulder and curled her fingers around the air and slowly raised her hand up. Thick, sinewy rose vines crawled up the walls with deadly pricks lining the bark. "Now nobody will bother us. And look." She moved his fingers to her warm, wet pussy. Foreplay was not necessary. "See?"

"I see." He paused, "You're so beautiful." He said breathlessly. His fingertips sent jolts of electricity across her skin as he stroked her hip. His words tore at her in a way she didn't anticipate they could. Three little words but they were able to pierce the toughest emotional armor she had left.

"Ivo," she paused, "It's not too late to say no."

"It's okay, go ahead." He nodded at her, his slightly glowing ember eyes half-lidded.

She positioned his shaft at her pussy and lowered herself onto it, shuddering at the girth and somewhat uncomfortable pleasure therein. "It is larger than anticipated." She huffed as she bucked her hips to get her bearings.

Eggman involuntarily let out a moan as the warmth of her body enveloped him. "You're not a virgin, right? So what is the issue?" He lifted a hand to her breast and ran his thumb across her nipple.

Her hands twitched. "It isn't that. It's been so long since I last… did this …" She lost her train of thought.

"It feels… you're so warm. You're so slick and warm. I don't want to rush; you feel so good around me." His free hand gripped her hip, marvelling at its softness. "I want to take my time."

"It's happening again," she looked at her palms, "The energy is shifting."

Sheptilah put her hand over her Oracle Stone and pulled out a large orb of raw, glowing energy.

"This is where things get weird," she warned. She pressed the energy to his chest and slid her hand across his pecs. The intense rush of magic floody his body nearly killed him, but due to the healing nature of the power it kept him suspended between both planes of existence.

The energy leveled off after a moment and the overwhelming feeling became intense sexual pleasure with every nerve ending firing off at once. The magic was amplifying all they were both physically feeling at that moment into a strange euphoria.

Two extra pairs of arms came out of her back and held Eggman down.

"Ah, the spider lady has returned," he chuckled nervously, "Think of all the hand jobs you can do like that."

"Shh." She hushed him. Something shifted inside of her and he felt a warmer, almost melting feeling on his cock. Sheptilah arched her back and moaned loudly. He swore he could feel a _tongue_ rolling around his length. More arms rose up from the mattress, stroking and massaging him along his body. Sheptilah's hair started to become prehensile and climb up the walls along the vines.

"Close your eyes," she said between pants, "Close them."

"I want to see you." He moaned.

" _Please_ close your eyes." She begged.

Eggman didn't obey, but he wish he did. Slices appeared along the length of her torso and her rib cage opened like bird wings with a loud, sickening crack, exposing her internal organs.

Eggman screamed. "Sheptilah!" He could see the Oracle Stone branched out and was wrapped around her heart, lungs and liver like tree roots.

"Close your eyes!" She demanded. Some of the hands moved to cover his eyes and hold his head still so he wouldn't see what went along with the loud, sickening cracks he heard.

* * *

The rest he could hardly remember- it was too much for mortal men to attempt. Perhaps it was for the best as Orbot and Cubot remember hearing loud moans thinking someone was being tortured. They accessed the security camera from inside the bedroom to make sure their precious boss wasn't being ripped limb-from-limb only to instantly regret what they saw.

He woke up slowly. He tried to sit up but found himself tangled in the ripped bedsheets. Next to him Tilly slept quietly, laying on her side and facing him. He gently brushed her hair out of her face and was relieved to see she was not injured.

When his eyes focused he saw some of the damage to the room. He rolled over and saw there was a mess of used condoms and torn wrappers on the floor along with some down feathers sticking to wet spots.

Regardless of what happened it seemed they were both able to pause the activities long enough for him to put on a fresh condom each time, so he felt a sense of relief knowing that.

He was expecting to be badly hurt but felt no pain. In fact, he felt energized and euphoric. He quietly got up and grabbed a change of clothes and made his way to the bathroom. The shifting of weight caused Sheptilah to roll over with a groan before waking up.

Ivo was in the bathtub recovering from the previous activities for ten minutes before she got up. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remember the entire experience but was coming up empty.

Sheptilah, bleary-eyed and unsteady on her feet, came in soon after and quietly shut the door behind her. He looked over to her and smiled as she got into the water with him. After a moment her vision focused and she was fully awake. The bathroom was remodeled with a generously-sized tub, a new sink and a mirror that was actually a screen with a built-in camera.

"How are you feeling?" He sighed as she laid her back against him. He again brushed the hair out of her face with his fingertips.

"I don't know." She admitted. The hot water felt amazing on her sore body.

"I have to admit that it was… the strangest sex I've ever experienced but certainly not the _worst_." He tried to lighten the mood.

"Please don't tell anyone about this.f" She sounded sad. "It has to be a secret."

"Stupid question, but may I ask _why_?"

"Shadow and Thunderbolt would kill us both," she let a wry smile form on her face, "And so would GUN"

"I can imagine Tower coming down to _personally_ execute me for this." He drew her into a hug.

"But think of the look on Sonic's face if he found out," she giggled, "All contorted with horror."

"I think Orbot and Cubot need therapy, honestly." He leaned forward and chastely kissed her cheek. "I feel fifteen years younger and excited to be alive."

"I feel like I died a week ago." She frowned. "I've never been sore like this before. Too much energy coursing through me at once, I guess."

"Let's not do the lunar eclipse thing again. I still feel the same about you as I did before but I think once per lifetime is more than enough."

"Yeah, I understand." She tilted her head back and looked at him. "I feel stronger about you, though."

"That good, huh?" He smirked.

"Ivo!" She playfully chided him. "I mean the few good things about you. I'm going to hold onto that until the day I die."

"All two things." He laughed.

"I have to confess something," she hesitated.

"You _were_ a virgin?"

"You wish," she shook her head, "Never mind. Don't worry about it." Her voice trailed off.

"Boss?" Orbot broke the quiet by sticking his head into the bathroom. "Are you okay? You've been in the bedroom for three days."

" _Three days?_ " The two humans spoke in unison, then looked at each other.

"Three days!" Orbot held up three red fingers. "You have so many missed calls from a few of your Bosses. I didn't know what to tell them except that you were ...busy."

Cubot poked his face in, pushing Orbot down on the top of his head. "Hey, boss? Your room is a mess."

Sheptilah groaned and ducked her head under the water out of embarrassment.

"How bad is it?" He was afraid to find out. He didn't really look around too much when he came to.

"Did you, by any chance, uh," Orbot searched his data bank and chose his words carefully, " _Fight_?"

"Did you _win_?" Cubot asked earnestly.

"Oh, I won." Eggman scratched the back of his head. "Just start repairs on my room right away."

Sheptilah's head breached the water and she gasped for air. "Are you done embarrassing me?" She frowned at the robots. It was one of the few English sentences she could say flawlessly.

"Sorry, miss!" Orbot put up a placating hand. "I'll get started on the repairs." He grabbed Cubot and hustled out.

" _Did you win,_ " she mocked, "I can't believe this."

"When your rib cage flew open I was pretty damned sure I was going to die," he laughed, "Oh my God did I think I was going to die."

She inhaled deeply and went back under the water. She could still hear his laughter.


	47. Nadir

Sheptilah wouldn't look Eggman in the eye for several days. Whenever he tried to see her at her hut she would duck out, having Amy cover for her. Nothing is more amusing than watching a grown adult shape-shift into a shoe to avoid someone.

She wouldn't say a single thing to anyone about why she was acting so strange.

When Shadow stopped by to interrogate her on why she was missing for half a week he found her in her bed under the covers, refusing to come out.

"You were gone for three days." Shadow chided her. "You didn't call or text. What were you doing for three days in the lair?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Her muffled voice was higher pitched than usual.

"What happened?" He was growing frustrated.

"The lunar eclipse. I was exposed to it and it turned me into a monster. For three days." She peeked out from the comforter.

"So Eggman had you in the lair for three days? What, like, in a cage?"

"Kinda." She blinked.

"But then why didn't we hear from him?" Then the realization dawned on him and his face turned up in a sneer. "You _didn't_."

She bit her lip and stared at him nervously. "Remember how I said it made you more animalistic and the whole thing about desires?"

" _Explain_ ," he narrowed his eyes at her, "And don't lie to me."

She made a sound like a high-pitched squeal and gripped the edge of the comforter so hard her knuckles turned white.

"What. Did. You. _Do?_ " He demanded.

Still no answer from her.

"Sheptilah!"

"You said not to lie to you so I'm not talking." She retreated back under the blanket.

"Why are you acting like a child?"

"Because I feel like I'm being treated as such," she sat up abruptly, "Fine. You want to know what happened? _We fucked._ For three days," she held up three fingers, "And neither of us remembers most of it but at some point my rib cage flew open, okay? It was horrifying and I don't want to talk about it."

Shadow inhaled sharply and his mouth was open as if he was going to say something but instead just looked at her, dumbstruck.

"His room looks like a demon tore through it. There's claw marks in the steel walls. Deep ones." She trembled with shame.

Shadow's ears were pinned back with horror.

"And now he wants to go on a date!"

The hedgehog sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at his knees.

" _Your rib cage flew open?_ " He turned to look at her with a sour expression. "And he _wants_ to go out on a date?"

Sheptilah threw up her hands. "I don't know!"

Shadow shuddered. "That man's got issues."

"I wish it never happened." She sulked. "I'm so embarrassed I could die."

"I'm gonna level with you," he flexed his fingers, "That's disgusting that you two did that together but you're an adult and he seems okay so I am not going to report this to anyone. However, if I never hear any more details about it it would be too soon."

She hung her head with shame.

The hedgehog scoffed. "This is just what we need. Please. Please tell me you couldn't _possibly_ get pregnant."

"Shadow, I don't have a uterus until I shape shift one." She furrowed her brow. "And I don't have one right now. That and we used what he called protection. Some weird, stretchy thing."

"A _condom_?"

"Yes, that."

"Small miracles." He sighed with disgust.

She gasped. "Surveillance footage!" She suddenly jumped up. "I have to make him delete it!"

" _There's footage?_ " Shadow dragged his hand down his face. "Of course there is." He resigned to his chaotic life.

Sheptilah hopped out of the bed and hurriedly put on her shoes. "I'm gonna kill him."

"I'm gonna kill _you_." The hedgehog spat.

"You can do that later." She ran her hands down her dress to smooth out the wrinkles and ran out the door. She came back a second later to hug Shadow and kiss him on top of the head. "Please don't tell anyone. I'll be right back!"

She was gone before he could respond to her, but was now wondering where that mouth had been and shuddered again.

* * *

"Ivo!" She tapped her foot impatiently. "Let me in!" She was outside the lair ringing the bell repeatedly.

The door slid open. Eggman was standing there with a smug look on his face. "Are you back for more?"

She raised her finger accusingly. "You need to delete the footage." She was out of breath from running over there as fast as her Overlander legs would carry her.

"I already did," he cocked his head, "Days ago."

"Wha..." She panted. "Oh."

"Are you okay?" He looked at her with a worried expression.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and bowed her head.

"Come inside," he gestured, "I have some hot chocolate and cookies. We can talk about it."

The lair was quiet and dim. Eggman was watching some telenovelas on his flatscreen in the living room with Orbot and Cubot sitting beside him, completely entranced with the show. She found comfort in the warmth of the mug of hot chocolate and sipped it slowly, drumming her fingers along the cup.

Eggman popped a fudge cookie in his mouth and chased it down with a swig of his own drink.

"Carmelita, you _fool_ ," Orbot sighed softly, "Sebastián doesn't care about you at all. He is just after your money."

"How do we know this isn't all a dream sequence?" Cubot shook his head. "They pulled that back when fans were mad at Cristóbal's death."

"Shh!" Eggman scowled at them. "I haven't caught up with the series!" He shooed off his robots and scooted closer to the woman.

"So what's bothering you?"

Sheptilah kept her eyes on the half-finished drink that had gone cold. "I'm horrified, embarrassed, mortified, ashamed." She listed off many adjectives.

"Why?" He sounded hurt.

"Shadow knows and he's upset." She put down her cup and covered her face with her hands. "I'm also disgusted with how it went down. This isn't how I imagined it would be. I was a _monster_."

"I've known you can shape shift into weird shit for a long time," he put a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I still like you. A lot."

She looked at his hands then up at his face; he was sincere.

"Shadow says you've got issues for wanting to go out with me." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Maybe I do." He leaned in close. "So what?" He drew her into a kiss, caressing her upper arm as he did so.

She broke the kiss and turned away from him, embarrassed.

Eggman frowned. "You don't want to make love again?"

"We made _nightmares_ , not love."

"You are entirely too dramatic. It's run its course though, hasn't it? Everything will be vanilla from now on, yes?" He knit his brows together with concern.

She turned to him, cheeks red. "That is true."

He got off of the sofa and scooped her up into his arms. "But I am going to be in charge this time." he grinned mischievously. "You _did_ tell me to take what's mine."

She swallowed hard.

" _If_ that's okay with you?" He raised his eyebrows.

For a moment she forgot how to breathe. She nodded sheepishly, completely at his mercy. "Yes, I'm yours."

He carried her bridal-style to his room and gently laid her on the bed. He pulled off his clothes and gauntlet, setting it all on the floor. He slipped under the covers with her and ran his fingers over her warm body. "Mmm..."

She kept her thighs together and her arms close to her chest as she kissed him, feeling extremely modest.

"Don't be so reserved." He kissed her neck. He trailed his hand up her thigh and lifted the hem of her dress. He made his way to her lips and kissed her deeply, pressing his bare erection against her thigh. "You're safe here with me, I promise."

"I keep thinking about the weird stuff that happened," she ran her fingers through his chest hair, "At one point we were on the ceiling, I think." She briefly looked up at it but didn't see any marks.

"That explains why Orbot was complaining about having to get the long-handled squeegee out of storage."

He hooked a finger into her panties and slowly, agonizingly pulled them down. Every nerve ending of hers was on fire with anticipation. He peppered her jaw and neck with kisses, finding it difficult to pull away from her warm, supple skin. "You smell so good," he said breathlessly, "You always do but right now you smell _really_ good."

"Ivo..." She moaned quietly when he rubbed his thumb against her upper thigh. His fingers explored the silvery curls for that special little spot. When he found it she arched her back and huffed.

He grinned smugly and continued to play with it, becoming more emboldened by her growing wetness. "You're so timid now." He pulled away from her for a moment to slip her dress off over her head. She frowned when he stopped for that moment but pressed her forehead to his chest when his hand found its way back. "Why are you so shy? Are you uncomfortable, my pet?"

"I've always been timid in this kind of situation." Her breath was quickening as the jolts of pleasure ran up from her groin to the warm spot forming in her stomach and tingling in her chest. She covered her face with her hands. "Even with the succubus."

"We don't have to do this, Tilly."

"I want to do this I just... I'm a little shy."

"So I have to convince you to open up; like a flower." He looked at her with those devious, mutant eyes that glowed ever so slightly. "Mmm, you're so warm."

"I'm feeling more like a cactus, at the moment." She suddenly gasped when he slipped a finger inside her.

 _She's so slick and hot,_ he thought as he slipped another finger in, careful to not cut her with a fingernail. He kept his thumb over her clit, pressing _just_ light enough to tease her.

"Not a cactus." He kissed her collarbone and made his way down to her navel. "You're more like a delicious fruit and I'm going to take a _bite_." He disappeared under the blanket and gently pried her legs apart.

"Wait, _a bite?_ I'm not into biting-"

He spread her vulva with his fingers and pressed his tongue to her clit, slowly applying pressure to test her sensitivity and boundaries. He waited for any indication to stop, even if it was a slight nervous twitch.

Her breath hitched at the sensation and she tried to stifle a moan. "Oh, _that's_ what you meant." She relaxed, exhaling quietly.

"Did you _really_ think I was going to take a chunk out of your leg?" His voice was muffled from under the covers.

"Sometimes the stone's translation is literal."

He chuckled and went back to rolling his tongue over the little nub. She gripped the bed sheets, moaning as he worked her over. His large hands firmly holding her hips to keep them still. He loved hearing the sounds of her pleasure, especially when she attempted to keep her voice down with a squeak. The slightly bitter flavor of her most sensitive area wasn't unappetizing but it was also not as sweet as he hoped.

He teased her by rolling his tongue just out of reach of the most sensitive parts and would occasionally punctuate with playful nibbles.

" _Yes_ ," she groaned, "Ah..." She spread her legs further apart, literally and metaphorically opening up for her lover.

He could tell when she was close to orgasming and would stop sucking to kiss her thigh. He loved the warmth of her body and the velvet softness of her skin and his lips would linger there for a moment before pressing another kiss into her flesh. He did all he could to extend the time shared between them.

"You're teasing me," she moaned breathlessly, "It's starting to hurt a little."

"It's called edging; it means I'm in control of whether you come or not; but if it's starting to hurt I can finish up."

"Please do." She curled her toes.

He obliged and let her orgasm, finishing up his work with the flick of his tongue. The waves of pleasure spread up her body at once, releasing every bit of pent-up energy from her muscles.

He got up and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and crawled over her. "Feel better?"

She panted softly. "Yes." Her face was dewy with sweat and flushed. A small smile spread across her face.

"Good." He was proud of his work. He kissed her on the cheek and then retrieved a condom from his nightstand.

"I was thinking about those. You must really have a lot of self-control to not have your logo stamped all over them." She snorted.

"Nobody would trust them!" He laughed. "No way." He put it on and crawled over to her, spreading her legs with his knees and looked at her with determination. He held his cock at her entrance, teasing her with a poke. "Ready?"

"Yes." She leaned up and kissed him. She could taste herself on his mouth but it didn't bother her.

He pushed in slowly, enjoying the warmth of her body. For the time being it was as if they were the only two people on Mobius and there was no looming threat over their heads. No GUN, no Eggman Industries, no Sonic and no Egg Bosses; just them.

Though it's said it's not the size that counts- it really does. The thickness of his cock made her feel full and hurt a little. With each pump of his hips she felt her body light up with pleasure _and_ discomfort. It ran up her body like fire, the sound of his soft gasps heightening her arousal.

"I'm so out of practice." She sighed.

"That's okay," he smiled, "We can fix that. But why not just... shape shift yourself a little bigger?"

"Because I'm a little too distracted to do that right now. It's hard enough keeping my uterus gone at all times."

Ivo thrusted slowly while kissing her deeply, his tongue teasing hers. He felt himself falling down an emotional well that he knew he could never crawl out of. _Damned brain chemicals ruining my life,_ he thought. _There goes the oxytocin._

 __As he moved back and forth above her he studied the lines in her face, the angle of her chin, the color and shape of her eyes and the dusting of freckles across her skin. The dreamy way she looked up at him with absolute trust and comfort nearly made him break down with guilt. He still felt bad for what he had done and was planning on doing to her before he got caught up in his feelings for this woman.

The smell of his musk mingling with hers created a hot atmosphere that drove them wild, appealing to their primitive sides.

"You're so soft and warm." He laid on top of her and wrapped his arms around her so that they were very close. "And so submissive…"

She gripped his shoulders. "Yes, I'm yours to do with as you please, but just in this moment."

His pumping became harder and faster, the sound of their moans building in volume together. She wrapped her legs around his torso, crossed at the ankles. She slid her palm across his cheek, removing his glasses. They gazed lovingly at each other, marveling at how beautiful the other was in all their flawed ways.

"You've got faint freckles." She said in a quiet voice, tilting her head slightly and stroking his cheek with her fingertips. "I never noticed... I love... I love them..."

"I've always noticed your freckles. They're so prominent; I want to kiss them all." He buried his face in her neck, slowing the pace of his pumps. "You're so warm... I want to stay like this forever."

Her heart fluttered. "Me, too." She pulled him to her and kissed him deeply, their tongues rolling over the other's. "Don't stop..."

"I won't..." He said between deep breaths. "I don't want to. I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

"I'm so close," she whispered in his ear, "May I come? I don't think I can hold back any longer."

"Of course, my pet." He picked up the pace, thrusting hard enough to make the bed frame rattle.

She arched her back as she came, making a sound like she was choking and gasping for air.

He could feel her convulse around him and came soon after with a shudder, each twitch of his cock he felt the energy leave him and his limbs felt heavy.

He laid down next to her and nuzzled his face into her neck, mustache tickling her.

"Ivo." She reached for his hand.

"Yes?" He was just as out of breath as she was.

She pressed his fingertips to her Oracle Stone. He flinched expecting a shock but none came. The gem felt cold and smooth like a pearl.

"I thought you said it would hurt to touch it." He held her closer.

"Well," she rolled over so that she was facing him, "Touching the stone won't hurt you if I really trust you."

"You _still_ trust me even after everything." He sighed.

"Yes," she grinned, "Because you're my sun."

"And you are my moon." He smiled warmly.

"It seems _you_ are being the submissive one after all." She teased.

Their breathing slowed as they rested in the afterglow of tender lovemaking. She inhaled the scent of him on his pillow, senses heightened from the rush of endorphins. "Your bed always smells so good. I love your scent."

"Speaking of the moon… we should probably go there and see what those wiccaphages did to the core of it."

"You would take me to the moon?"

"Well, yeah. I have lots of space ships. We could even leave right _now_ if you wanted."

She groaned, "Nah, I don't wanna go anywhere that dangerous without Shadow." She paused and then, "Shadow! I left him back at my house! He's waiting for me." She jumped out of the bed and pulled her clothes on.

"What are you going to tell him?" Eggman propped himself up by the elbow.

She hastily tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her dress. "I don't know." She slipped on her shoes and ran out the bedroom door only to come back in a second later and kiss him on the cheek.

"Be good." She winked.

"No promises." He stuck out his tongue playfully.

"Bye!" She said as she jogged out the door.

Sheptilah made it back to her hut in record time. Shadow stood at the door with his arms crossed, tapping his foot. He resembled the angry parent of a child who stayed out past curfew.

"It happened again, didn't it?" He sneered.

She hung her head and sighed. "Yeah."

"Gross."


	48. Lights

Days after the excursion to the lair Sheptilah invited Shadow to her hut for training.

"Why do you nap so much?" Shadow sat in Sheptilah's lap as she brushed his spikes with a wide-toothed comb. The forest was quiet except for a few cicadas chirping. Dots of sunlight filtered through the trees providing dim illumination.

He himself was falling asleep because of how relaxing the sensation of having his spines cleaned felt.

"Because I can be back home as I remember it." She placed the dead spines next to her on the ground. "Honey, I don't understand how you can pull this back into a ponytail. I've seen Sonic walk around with his mop tied back and I just can't figure out how it's done without magic."

"It's not easy which is why I mostly just let my spikes do as they please."

"How do you even sit with a tail like that? I guess I just have a hard time understanding how Mobians do anything."

"How do you walk without a tail? Where's _your_ balance?"

"That's a good question," she tapped her chin with the comb, "How in the Hell _do_ humans get around without falling over?" Sheptilah continued to groom him. When she was done his spines felt lighter and healthier.

"I think it's your toes. Anyway, what do you even _see_ in the Doctor?" Shadow sulked. "I don't understand it."

"You know, he asked me the same thing and I said it was because he's tall." She patted the top of Shadow's head. "It's actually pretty sad. He's one of the few people in my entire life that actually treated me like a normal person; I guess that's why. Unlike the doctors at GUN, Ivo has stopped harassing me for a blood sample."

"They're _still_ after you?"

"I'm surprised Tower hasn't summoned me and forced me to give it up. Shadow, maybe healing Mrs. Cabbot was a mistake." She began to scratch Shadow just under the ears.

"It wasn't a mistake; you've made that family so happy," he leaned his head back, "A little higher… ah."

"I guess it's selfish of me to keep my blood to myself. I sometimes lay awake at night thinking about all the people dying of complex and incurable diseases who only receive palliative care because that's all there is for them. I think, yeah I could heal them in a second. They'd get back to their families who wouldn't go into serious debt trying to prolong an ending life.

"And then there's children who get cancer or are born with illnesses like your Maria. Accidents and natural disasters, medical negligence… Clove wouldn't have been drafted into Eggman's army if her sister wasn't dying. Nephtys' face could've been repaired without the use of cybernetics.

"I'm just… afraid. I'm afraid of what it could do. Wouldn't it put millions of doctors out of work? Stop the genuine advancement of medicine because there's a magical fix now? What if the population explodes in several generations because people live even long and have stopped dying as frequently?" She stopped scratching his ears and rested her hands on his shoulders.

"Tilly." Shadow leaned back and looked up at his witch whose face was deeply lined with worry. "There's only so much your magic can do in regards to healing in the first place. You can't regrow limbs and you can't cure away mental illness or disabilities. We will always need good doctors to help with that.

"But in the end it is your body, your blood and your magic. You don't have to do anything."

"I guess you're right." She went back to scratching the base of his ears. "These are so cute. Hebat's ears weren't visible so I couldn't enjoy them. She was sort of like Knuckles in that regard. You know there's ears there, but where exactly remains a mystery."

"If you tell anyone about this I'll kill you." Shadow yawned.

"No, don't fall asleep! We have to practice your magic!"

"If you don't want me to fall asleep then don't scratch my ears." He yawned again, which in turn made her yawn.

"Sleepiness is contagious." Sheptilah stood and brushed the leaves off of her clothes.

Shadow tilted his head. "Why do you wear so much black?"

"Amy tells me it's the color of witches. In my culture, it's the color of royalty."

"I must be really royal," he looked down at his own fur, "In our time black is the color of mourning."

"Red is our color of mourning." She shrugged, "Which makes sense because every time I look at Ivo I get sad!" She laughed to herself.

He chuckled politely. "He does wear too much red. He looks like a tomato."

"A very tall and mustachioed tomato." Sheptilah stuck out her tongue. "It's time to practice. See that boulder over there?" She pointed to a large rock.

"Yes?"

"Make it levitate."

Shadow held his hands out and concentrated on focusing his energy to his fingertips. His spines slowly began to rise upward. His eyebrow twitched and beads of sweat formed on his face.

"Tilly, it's just not happening."

"Open your eyes." She shouted. Why did it sound so far away?

He did so and saw that the boulder was not levitating but _he_ was. He looked down and felt his heart nearly leap out of his throat when he realized just how high he was. He yelped and fell only to have Sheptilah catch him in her arms.

"Okay, so you can get the magic flowing but you have trouble with aiming it. Maybe if you name your magic it'll help. Sort of like when you yell Chaos Spear and the like." She put him on his feet.

"Maybe the problem is my magic and the Chaos energy inside me are incompatible and it doesn't work correctly."

"We all have our own magic," she smoothed down his spikes with her hand, "And our own way of using it. Try again but with your eyes open this time."

He shook off the tension and focused once more on the boulder. _How does Silver do it?_ He thought. _Telekinesis is a kind of magic, right? If only the magic wasn't invisible…_

Wait. _That's it!_ He remembered Silver's telekinesis is electric blue.

"Sheptilah, why is your magic invisible?"

"It's not, I just make it so it's invisible. Fancy decorations waste energy." She held out her hands and formed bright purple flames of energy. She then made it flash a rainbow of colors before dissipating it.

Shadow thought for a moment and chose to imagine red magic. It formed around his hands in the shape of billowy smoke. He imagined it stretched out to the boulder and enveloped it. The magic followed suit and completely engulfed the large stone.

"Now raise it." Sheptilah grinned.

Shadow was excited to see the magic working. He slightly raised his hand and the boulder was lifted a foot off of the ground.

"You're doing it!" Sheptilah cheered. "So good!"

"Please don't distract me," he furrowed his brow, "Okay, gonna set it down now." He lowered his hands so that the stone was back in place.

The witch was hopping up and down. "Yes! Soon you will move mountains!"

"Very small mountains, maybe." He couldn't help but grin. "Anthills."

* * *

It became a habit for Sheptilah to sleep in Eggman's now overgrown garden. _You can take the woman out of the wild but you can't take the wild out of the woman_ , he would joke.

At least once a week she'd make a point to stay at GUN overnight just so she could sleep up against Shadow's face in the form of a cat. While on her astral plane she would teach him things about his new magic abilities. Time moved differently when in dreams so she could squeeze an entire month's worth of lessons into one night.

Sometimes she would even sleep in the lair when she felt the iron didn't bother her so much.

Eggman's alarm clock shrieked at six in the morning every day without fail. Sheptilah groaned and rolled over under the blankets, trying to muffle the sound by shoving her head under a pillow.

"Why do you wake up so early?" She valued her sleep more than most things.

"Because I have stuff to do." Ivo sat up and turned off the alarm. She felt him lay back down and snuggle up to her.

"Cute." She brushed her hair out of her face. "I know this is a sore subject but has Katella contacted you?"

"Only to say she hasn't found any live specimens yet, just evidence of where they've been."

"What all _did_ she do to you?" Tilly rolled over to look at him. "If you wanna talk about it." _I want to know if I should've killed her,_ she thought.

He snuggled up closer. "She was really rough; liked to wrestle and fight. Sometimes she'd jump out of nowhere and tackle me. I was okay with it for a while because it was exciting but she didn't have respect for personal boundaries or the word 'no' because she took it as rejection. If you didn't drop everything to be with her when she wanted you you were in big trouble. She always got what she wanted to matter what.

"I once had the nerve to turn her down for sex because I wasn't feeling well due to having a cold. Well, she decided to 'convince' me by wrestling me into submission and that's when she broke my arm in three places. Supposedly it was an accident."

"I'm sorry." Sheptilah frowned.

"Oh, it gets better," he yawned, "She tried to force me to marry her and Sonic actually saved my ass by calling my mother."

" _Sonic_ saved you?"

"Yes! My mother destroyed Katella and she was screaming _'I don't want a battle axe like that for a mother in law.'_ In retrospect it was hysterical seeing my mom get into it like that." He smiled a little. "I doubt Sonic even remembers that. He was really young back then."

Sheptilah lightly rubbed the tip of her nose against Ivo's. "I'm sorry you felt you had to call Katella in the first place."

"It is what it is; plus I have you as my bodyguard." He kissed her cheek.

She giggled when his mustache tickled her. "Yes and I'm not afraid to play dirty."

"Have you really forgiven me for what I said I planned on doing to you…?" He cupped her cheek with his hand and ran his thumb back and forth across it.

She looked at him for a moment, blinking slowly. "No; I'd be a moron to do that. I choose to look past it. It probably also makes me a moron, but _maybe_ less of one."

"Fair enough." He drew her into a kiss. "I have to get back to work building the Syzygy Cannon; you should probably go check on your magic staff thing."

"It should be done any day now." She sat up, her hair a frizzy mess.

"I have been thinking," he got out of bed and dressed, "We shouldn't go to the moon. I'm going to send a robot there to check it out instead."

"That's a better idea." Tilly laid back in bed. "An even better idea is me going back to sleep."

"Get up! You slept for five thousand years; you should be well-rested."

"Nuh uh." She pulled the covers over her head. "It's nice and warm in here."

He pulled the comforter off of her, exposing her naked form to the air conditioned space.

"Ah!" She yelped. "Cold!"

* * *

"What's on your mind, Shads?" Sonic lifted a cup of crushed ice to his lips, tapped a few pieces into his mouth and began to chew on them.

They were in his hut waiting for Sticks and Amy to arrive so they could try out new video games.

"I can't talk about it." The black hedgehog scrolled through his phone. "Must you chew on ice? That's bad for your teeth." His ears kept involuntarily swiveling toward the annoying sounds coming from behind him.

"Dude," Sonic walked around the sofa and sat next to Shadow, "I don't have many vices. I don't smoke, I don't drink and I certainly don't mess around with drugs."

"It's your mouth, not mine." Shadow said. He knew better than to argue with Sonic about anything.

Sonic leaned in toward Shadow's ear, chewing as loudly as he could.

With each crunch the black hedgehog became increasingly enraged.

 _Crunch._

Shadow's ears twitched ever so slightly.

 _Crunch._

He clenched his jaw and crossed his legs.

 ** _Crunch!_**

Shadow did his best to ignore Sonic but it was just not happening. He picked up a cushion and smacked Sonic in the face with it.

The blue hedgehog yelped. "I bit my tongue!" He said between laughs.

"You deserve it!" Shadow hit him again with the cushion.

"Boys." Amy shook her head and clicked her tongue at their behavior. She walked in through the door after the assault but knew that Sonic probably did deserve it.

"Don't start a wrestling match without me!" Sticks took a defensive stance. "That's just not fair!"

" _Sonic was chewing on ice right by my ear_." Shadow tattled.

"What have I told you about chewing ice?!" Amy scolded.

"Let me have my one thing!" Sonic wailed.

"Hey, where's your witch?" Sticks pointed at Shadow.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "I don't know; she's probably at her house."

Just then there was a very bright burst of light that flooded through the windows, briefly coating everything in blinding whiteness.

Evidently the staff was finished and Sheptilah took it for a test drive.

"My retinas!" Eggman's voice howled.

"Or she could be right on the beach." Shadow sighed.

The staff was as long as Sheptilah was tall. Its silver body was slim and decorated with small reliefs of her mothers holding up the pearl in the center which was nestled in a pale pink blooming rose-shaped setting.

She had healed the man's eyes and leaned up to kiss him when out of the corner of her eyes she saw the kids approaching and recoiled.

The Mobians ran out to greet the Overlanders. Tails flew in overhead and landed near Eggman.

"Woah, it's beautiful!" Amy's eyes sparkled. "So pretty!"

"Want to hold it?" Sheptilah held the staff out. "Only Shadow and I can use it so there's no danger in you touching it."

"Can I?" Amy took the staff and marveled at how light it was despite its size.

"Please don't shoot things like that off into the sky! You could blind a pilot and send a plane crashing down." Tails scolded her.

"I'm sorry," Sheptilah rubbed the back of her head with shame. "I didn't know it was going to be that strong. It wasn't even full power."

"Incoming call from Ulala, Doctor." MARI chirped. "It's about that bright light she saw. I will tell her it was just a practice shot."

Shadow's phone beeped. He took it out and looked at the screen: it was Tower asking what that bright light was since he was in the vicinity of its origin.

Sticks went up to the pearl and sniffed it suspiciously. It didn't smell like a rose therefore the paranoid badger couldn't trust it and hissed. Things that don't behave the way they look were never to be trusted, according to her.

"You pissed off GUN again," the black hedgehog smirked, "And apparently a space DJ." He texted Tower back that it was the witch testing her weapon.

"Tower can kiss my ass," Sheptilah waved a finger, "Until he leaves me alone about my blood I don't even want to hear his name."

"How is Ulala? Tell her I said hi!" Sonic waved at Eggman's gauntlet.

"Someone tell the blue pineapple I do not work for him," MARI spat. "I'm connecting you to Ulala now, Doctor."

"Hello, Ulala," Eggman spoke into his gauntlet, "Sorry about the bright light."

"What was that, anyway?" There was a noise that sounded like CD cases being shuffled together, "I do have news otherwise. Our people haven't spotted a darn thing in regards to those yucky wiccaphages. Just a weird increase in oceanic quakes."

"Hi, Ulala!" Sonic yelled into the gauntlet, "It's me, Sonic!"

"Hi, Sonic! Got any song requests?" Ulala's voice was cheerful.

"To Another Galaxy by TGP!" Sonic was practically hanging off of Eggman's arm.

"TGP? Oh, Tokyo Ghetto-" Ulala was cut off abruptly.

"Yeah, don't say it!" Sonic chuckled. "But I like that song."

"Thanks for the update, Ulala," Eggman shook Sonic off of his arm and glared at him. "Go away, fanboy!"

"Really, Sonic?" Amy shook her head disapprovingly. She pointed the staff at him.

Sheptilah took the weapon back from Amy and balanced it in her hand. "How am I supposed to walk around with this thing? It won't fit in my headspace."

"How did your moms carry it?" Tails asked.

Tilly shrugged, "Like a walking stick."

"Maybe the grimoire says something about it?" Shadow reached for the staff.

"Good point," Sheptilah let her familiar hold the weapon while she pulled the royal grimoire out and flipped through it as it floated before her.

"You are way too short for that weapon." Sonic teased.

"Thousands of years of information and not one goddamned thing on the Lunar Staff. Looks like I gotta lug it around the old-fashioned way." She put her grimoire away.

"What can it do?" The blonde fox looked it over apprehensively. "Besides kill wiccaphages?"

"Whatever I want it to, I guess. There's almost no information about it in my book."

"You know, if it was anything like that shining light we saw just now I'm wondering if other people wrote about it." Eggman crossed his arms, "And that bright light was only a fraction of the power but it was seen all the way from space… You can't just seal a bunch of monsters in the moon and nobody notices; even in a desert."

"I know where this is going," Shadow smirked, "You're going to visit some museums and paw through untranslated archives, aren't you?"

Eggman nodded.

"Can I come with you?" Amy's eyes were wide. "Oh, please? I love that ancient stuff!"

Sheptilah looked over at Eggman and raised her eyebrows.

His shoulders dropped and he hung his head. "Fine, but we're probably not leaving the island for a few days."

"I thought we were planning my birthday party." Sonic shook his head.

"Oh, that's right!" Tails' ears stood straight up. "I almost totally forgot your birthday is in two weeks." He coughed. _Gee, I hope I'm not getting sick…_

"And Shadow's birthday is four days before that." Eggman reminded them. Shadow glared at Eggman with such hatred the man was worried he might be set on fire.

"How old are you gonna be, Shads?" Sonic teased.

"Seventy." He replied flatly. _In reality I'm going to be twenty,_ he thought, _when did I get so old?_

"Old man! I need you to come with me to the movie theater so I can get senior discounts on my ticket," Sticks went up to him, "But if you ask me you don't look a day over fifty."

"Gee, thanks." Shadow forced a smile.

"It's also Ivo's birthday," Sheptilah grinned, "Same as Sonic."

Eggman's mustache perked up when he heard she remembered.

"So we'll just throw a big block party," Amy spread her hands, "I think defeating the wiccaphages might be a slight bit more important."

"We still need the rest of the Chaos Emeralds," Sticks spat, "'We've got what, like, four of them now?"

"Three," Shadow corrected her, "Dubai is still fighting us tooth and nail on it. We may actually have to go steal it and replace it with a fake."

"So that means we still have a couple more to grab," Tails scratched his head, "Great, just when I thought we were getting closer to being done with everything."

"Incoming call from Katella," MARI chirped.

"Katella!?" Tails and Sonic yelped in unison.

"Oh, I forgot to mention her," Amy's ears drooped, "Yeah, she's around looking for the wiccaphages."

"If she's calling me that means she probably found one." Eggman muted the call. "Which may or may not be a good thing."


	49. If You Want Blood (You Got It)

"Katella isn't going to be a problem." Sheptilah smirked.

"Why do you say that?" Sonic looked up at the smug Overlander.

"I destroyed her. _Briefly_." She shot a knowing glance at Ivo.

"What?!" Sonic's spikes stood straight up.

"She got better." The witch shrugged.

Sonic looked to Eggman who simply nodded at the blue hedgehog who shifted uneasily.

"Anyway, I better go see what she wants." Ivo looked at his gauntlet. "Tilly, if you don't mind?"

Sheptilah opened a portal to the lair for him. He stepped through alone and felt the air shift as she closed it.

"Katella hurt him again, didn't she?" Sonic chose his words carefully.

"She _tried_ ," Tilly tied her hair back into a high ponytail with a glamour, "And like any good witch I defended my friend."

Sonic looked out over the water and frowned. He was aware of what had happened with her breaking Eggman's arm but he was so young at the time he didn't understand the true scope of what occurred.

He remembered the fear Eggman had, though he went by Robotnik back then, when that man otherwise carried himself as an invincible tyrant. He was in a suit with his arm in a cast and sling while Katella stood next to him in a white gown holding onto the injured arm as a threat.

Sonic couldn't call the police on Robotnik, so what could he do? Being only five or six at the time he remembered that when you're in trouble… you called for your parents. He immediately phoned for Mama Robotnik who came to the rescue.

"I'm glad you're on our side." Sonic's brow was turned upright and an uneasy smile graced his lips.

"I would do it for any of you. You are all family to me and I love you and this island very much." She kneeled down so that she was at eye-level with the Mobians.

"We love you, too," Amy embraced the Overlander, "You're everyone's big sister here."

"Aw." Tilly hugged her back. Amy turned and pulled Sonic into the hug who in turn pulled in Tails.

"Alright!" Sticks caved despite not being asked to join the hug and put her arms around the witch's neck.

"I have so many siblings now," Tilly squeezed them, "Tails, you're the softest of them all." She stroked the top of his head.

"That's only because I don't have any prickly parts." He said sheepishly.

"I'm kind of glad Knuckles isn't here or he might crush my insides," Tilly chuckled, "He is way too strong."

"Say 'cheese'." Shadow snapped a picture of the group before they could respond, leaving everyone with a wonky face.

"Shadow!" Amy squeaked.

Sheptilah shook off the Mobians before they could knock her over. "I gotta go babysit Eggman while he talks to Katella. I'll see you tonight a GUN, Shadow."

The black hedgehog nodded. "See you then."

* * *

"I've caught one." Katella looked worn out on the screen. "It's half-dead but I'm bringing it by."

"How did you capture it?" Eggman leaned forward in his computer chair.

"It's in bulletproof glass. The acid it spits doesn't dissolve it but if it regains strength it could break out." Katella straightened her hair. "Damned thing nearly killed me." She sent him photos of the trapped creature.

"Bring it to my arctic base." He typed away at his computer. "I'll send you the coordinates now."

"Will that white-haired woman be there?" She tried to keep her composure but was clearly nervous.

"Yes," Eggman tented his fingers, "Along with most of my other Egg Bosses; so you need to behave. Call me when you get there."

"Hmph." Katella said before disconnecting the call.

The office door slid open and Sheptilah appeared. "Did I miss the call?"

"It just ended." Eggman turned to her. "She caught a live wiccaphage."

"Huh, I guess you were right to hire her after all." Tilly smiled. She leaned the staff against the wall and approached him.

He motioned for her to come sit in his lap by patting his thigh. She obliged and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad to have you around." He brushed her hair out of her face with his fingertips.

"I'm happy to be here," she sighed softly, "What do you want for your birthday?"

"World domination." He flashed a cheesy, toothy grin.

"I'm serious! Maybe I can take Sonic's form and you can boss me around all day?" She giggled.

"No, that's too weird. _Way_ too weird; I don't want my girlfriend to also be Sonic The Hedgehog." He shuddered with disgust.

She crossed her legs and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, let me know. In the meantime I'm going to be staying at GUN tonight. So far they haven't noticed the random cat walking around. I guess they assume it's someone's pet but it's the only way I can get around without being harassed."

"I'm going to need you up at the arctic base. Katella is transporting the wiccaphage there."

Sheptilah threw her head back and groaned. "We gotta go back up there? That's going to suck."

"You can get us there with a portal," he rubbed his nose with the back of his fist, "Can't you?"

"Yeah but I don't fit into my old uniform anymore. I got chubby, remember?"

"So wear whatever," he shrugged, "You're a Boss whether you've got the uniform on or not." His eyes dropped down to her chest and he caught himself staring at the gem.

"I saw something," he pointed at it, "When your rib cage was open briefly, I saw that the stone had roots. They expanded into your organs."

"I know," she giggled, "GUN has known for about a year now, too. They took x-rays of my body. We've known about the roots since forever. That's how it stays in place."

"I… but… I just assumed it was a cabochon." His mustache drooped.

Sheptilah shook her head a little. "No. It's in there good and tight. Kind of like how teeth have roots but you only see the top part."

"Yeah, that's a good point. Something about the stone bothers me, though. I don't trust it." He peered at it suspiciously.

"Is Sticks rubbing off on you? It's just a rock. A magic rock but a rock." She kissed his cheek. "It's not going to hurt you."

"You're right." He yawned, "I think I'm going to have a snack and some coffee; I've been working on that Syzygy weapon all day. I think it's about half-done at this point."

"If you are tired you should sleep," she inhaled deeply, enjoying his cologne, "That's my motto."

She jumped down from his lap and made her way to the staff and held it. "I'll go to GUN early then; maybe I can squeeze some more training in."

"Tilly," he said, "Don't let them take your blood. Remember what GUN used to be and what they did to Shadow; there's no guarantee they won't do the same to you."

"I know," she spoke quietly, "I know…"

* * *

Just as predicted, the same blonde doctor that verified Mrs. Cabbot's health was still hounding Sheptilah.

"You don't understand," he spoke rapidly as he chased her down the hall, "This is a matter of global health. We could cure everything from cancer to the common cold."

"I already told you no in several languages," Sheptilah huffed, "Please stop asking." She turned into Tower's office. The president was fondly looking at a worn-out black and white photo of Maria Robotnik.

Sheptilah shut the door and turned the lock on the knob to keep the doctor out.

"Sir," the witch held a strong grip on her staff, "I am asking you for the last time to stop bothering me for a sample of my blood."

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" He looked up at her coldly.

"I apologize for my rudeness," she spat, "But this is really starting to bother me."

He slipped the photo back into his pocket and leaned forward with his elbows on his desk, hands tented.

"There are people, even children, dying slow, agonizing deaths not unlike Mrs. Cabbot was. Providing affordable cures like what your blood may hold- "

"That's just it!" She tapped her staff on the floor for punctuation. "Affordable. You would hold a panacea ransom, wouldn't you? When this is all over what's to stop you from chaining me up somewhere and bleeding me dry? What's to stop you from having me cloned or forcing me to give birth over and over again just so you can abuse any offspring's magic?"

Tower opened his mouth to speak but she continued her monologue over him.

"Sure, first it's a sample of my blood. Then maybe it's a sample of my brain or a sample of my bone marrow. Oh, then maybe a sample of my ovaries and you'll try to help yourself to a sample of my Oracle Stone."

She was so angry her chest was heaving from exertion.

"I and my people were helpful and open to healing others, but I am still telling _you_ no. I do not trust you or your organization and I will never, ever trust a military force of this magnitude with unsupervised access to something as precious as my magic."

Tower blinked, absolutely stunned. He stared at her for a moment before laughing. "You have many concerns about me and my organization yet Doctor Eggman is your _lover_."

"What?" She was shocked. "What are you talking about?" Her heart was pounding in her chest harder than a hummingbird beats its wings.

MARI, still actively running on the phone in Sheptilah's pocket, silently alerted her creator that he was mentioned.

"Do you really think we wouldn't have a sharp eye on him at all times? Especially with you and Shadow being there this often?" Tower's face became serious again. "Well, whatever keeps him under control."

"I… think it says a lot that I trust Doctor Eggman more than I trust you." Her cheeks prickled with embarrassment.

"Does it? Or maybe it is you we cannot trust." Abraham stood and walked around his desk so he could be face-to-face with the witch. "You do not scare me nor do you intimidate me." His voice was slightly nasal from an encroaching head cold he was suffering.

"Then you are not paying attention." She spat. "I need you to understand that Eggman and I are most likely going to die together in order to end the wiccaphage threat once and for all. So forgive me for having a little _fun_ while the precious time left to my lifespan ticks away."

Eggman himself was listening silently on his gauntlet. _She's almost fluent in English_ , he thought. _Aside from a few mispronunciations, she's completely understandable._ What Sheptilah couldn't successfully say the Oracle Stone filled in for her.

"Think a little harder about what you are doing by withholding the gift you were blessed with, then. You can heal people now, but perhaps you should ensure that you can still do that long after you've died."

"I've caught up with five thousand years of history," she steeled herself and straightened her posture. "Things were better when we feared the sun's wrath and assumed the planet was a disc. Things were better when we were truly ignorant."

"Ignorance kills." Tower's mismatched eyes stared daggers into her. "Willful ignorance kills in greater numbers. You are being selfish, not cautious. You used to throw your blood around like it was nothing and suddenly you are paranoid over it."

"Sir, I ask you one last time: please do not browbeat me over this. It is my body, my blood, my power."

"I want you to think about all of the babies born with holes in their hearts, ichthyosis so bad that their skin splits open and bleeds at the slightest touch, all the people dying of organ failure for no reason other than they drew the short straw in the genetic lottery.

"Think about the millions of people who are HIV positive through no fault of their own who are ticking time bombs. Spina bifida, sickle cell, et cetera. Through your inaction you are allowing them to suffer."

Tower maintained a cool disposition and tight composure.

"I won't let you emotionally blackmail me." Her face was crumpled in agony. Sheptilah choked back sobs. Her chest ached and knees buckled.

"Then you will have to live with the guilt alone. Tower walked t o the office door and opened it so the doctor could enter. Just as he did so Shadow teleported into the room.

"What's going on?" The hedgehog was concerned. He felt intense suffering and knew it could only be his witch and he somehow knew where she was.

"Shadow!" She yelped from being startled. "I'm sorry."

"What happened now?" Shadow looked between Tower and Sheptilah.

Sheptilah straightened up. "The usual."

"Sir," the hedgehog tried to be as polite as possible, "She has already said no several times."

"Think of how many Maria Robotniks we could save. All we need is _one_ drop of blood." Tower narrowed his eyes at Shadow.

"How dare you use her like that," Sheptilah said, "Especially since one of your own personnel was the one that ultimately killed her. She didn't even _get_ to die of NIDS because of GUN."

"Maria was my friend," Tower spat, "My dear friend. When I took over GUN I vowed to never let that sort of thing happen again. We are here to protect the people of this planet."

Shadow distinctly remembered Tower, while acting as president, pointed a loaded gun at him and threatened to shoot.

"What's to stop you from creating another Biolizard? Who's to stop you from killing another Gerald Robotnik when the research becomes unpalatable?" She was visibly shaking from anger.

"You have a lot of nerve taking the moral high ground knowing full well that people are going to die without your help." Tower sneered, "Along with being romantically involved with _Eggman_ , of all people."

Sheptilah smiled. "You want blood?" She spoke through clenched teeth.

Shadow's eyes were wide and ears pinned back.

The doctor nodded sheepishly.

She bit her tongue and let the blood pool in her mouth unseen. She smiled again, tight lipped. She walked up to Abraham and held out her wrist with her palm up and open as if she offered her veins.

Without warning she spat a glob of blood at him, landing squarely on the bridge of his nose. Abraham let out a sound not unlike a deflating balloon from pure disgust.

The doctor ran up to him and wiped a sample of the material into a handkerchief and fled out of the room with it for immediate processing.

"You got it." She flashed a sharp, self-satisfied bloodstained grin.

Shadow wasn't sure if he was mortified or proud, but either way he rushed his witch out of the office before Tower could call for security.

The president wiped at his face with a tissue and immediately noticed his cold was cured.

* * *

"You're going to get yourself arrested." Shadow pulled her into his dorm and shut the door. "I can't believe you did that. What were you thinking!?"

"I asked him if he would force me to give birth over and over again so they could bleed my children dry or if they would clone me to do the same. He laughed at me but never denied that they would." She crossed her arms defiantly.

"Ti-ti," he huffed, "How do they even know about the whole… _thing_ with Eggman?"

"Apparently they don't trust me still and have been spying on us. I don't care that they know, though. Once he dragged Maria into this I couldn't stand it anymore." She wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, "I gotta go to the Artika base tonight. Katella is bringing a live wiccaphage there and she should be arriving at any time."

"Sonic told me about her after she left," he frowned, "Everything."

"Don't worry about it; it's been handled." Tilly bent down and kissed Shadow on the cheek, "I'm sorry if my actions are going to get you in trouble. I'll stay away from here for a while until he cools down."

He rubbed his palm where she kissed.

Sheptilah's phone beeped.

"Ah, looks like we're leaving now." She sighed. "I'm sorry."

Shadow hugged her, wishing he could go along but was afraid to bother Tower or Cabbot for permission. "Be safe. Text me when you get there and back."

"I will." She felt around for a knot to open.

"And wear your warm boots." He warned.

"I always do." She found a snag and began opening a portal to the lair.

"And wear a hat! You can't get sick but you can still freeze to death."

"Thanks, dad," she mocked, "I love you, too."


	50. Truly, Madly, Deeply

The creature was dead by the time Katella made it to the Arctic. With the use of robots Eggman had taken samples of it for analysis.

Tundra, Katella, Akhlut and Metal Sonic watched closely as the creature's body was processed.

It was prodded with samples of different materials to test its caustic limits.

"Looks like it eats through ceramic as well but not as fast as it eats through iron." Eggman pondered this. "Stainless steel is typically acid-resistant but it goes through it like a hot knife through butter."

"It looks like Teflon is the most resistant material." Akhlut said.

"Polytetrafluoroethylene," Eggman explained, "It's a kind of plastic. Plastics in general are resistant to acid, but not _all_ kinds of plastics."

"The acid it spits is _hydrofluoric_ acid, specifically," Katella spoke up, "According to my ship's sensors. I was able to track it down looking for high concentrations of that chemical when I found its tracks. I procured this specimen in Avalon."

"So how were you able to even contain it?" Sheptilah turned to the redhead.

"Simple; I used _Amphomag_ which is a commercially available acid neutralizer; it works on hydrofluoric acid." Katella huffed, "For an _alchemist_ you don't know much, do you?"

Eggman chortled. "Hydrofluoric acid wasn't fully understood until the seventeenth century and wasn't first used until a little before then. Sheptilah is over five thousand years old but missed everything from the thirtieth century BCE up until last year."

"Wait, how old _are_ you?" The huntress was flabbergasted.

"Five thousand two hundred and thirty three; roughly." The witch replied with a blasé tone. "I slept through most of it."

"You don't look a day over two thousand." Tundra joked.

"You're funny." She smiled at the walrus. She pulled out her phone to text Shadow that she was alright. She had no hope of spelling any of the words correctly so she simply told him that some 'plastiks' are 'asid-proof.'

Eggman properly disposed of the specimen by burning it to a crisp and kept some samples under glass to further build his tracker. He paid Katella and had her leave the base under armed guard immediately after.

* * *

Over an intimate dinner he admitted to Sheptilah that MARI had been spying on her for a while.

She sipped her hot chocolate. "I kind of figured. Once I really started learning how to use my phone I saw that program was always running in the background."

"You aren't mad?" He cut into his steak with a sharp knife.

"No," she finished her drink with a big gulp, "You show your affection in strange ways; this being one of them."

"I heard that you spit on Tower." He carefully chewed his food, enjoying the flavor.

"He kept harassing me for a sample of my blood. I wasn't going to give it to him but then he had the nerve to bring up Maria, as I'm sure you heard. I lost it at that point and spat my blood in his face like a lizard. Shadow rushed me out of that office in a heartbeat." She chuckled, "I'm so out of control."

"I have never been more attracted to you than I am right in this moment," he looked at her with awe. "You spat blood in the GUN president's face."

She blushed and pushed her hair behind her ear. "Oh, stop. Don't encourage that behavior."

The master bedroom of the Artika base was gloriously beautiful. The bed was the focus of the room; large and white with very fluffy pillows and comforters in a sleigh frame. Flanked by two empty nightstands, it looked as if it was carved from snow. A wood burning fireplace that sat across from the foot of the bed was lit and crackled softly.

A TV was mounted above the fireplace displaying the Eggman Industries logo. A door to the en suite was on the other wall next to sparsely decorated bookshelves.

The walls were a hazy, icy blue and the crystal light embedded into the ceiling was shaped like a snowflake.

"I suppose now that GUN knows there's no point in sneaking around." Ivo dropped his bag on the floor.

"This room is gorgeous! The room you had me and Shadow stay in was absolutely pitiful compared to this one." She flopped across the bed and sighed. "It's like a cloud!"

"I've got a surprise for you." He pulled a small white box out of his pocket.

She sat up and rested the staff on the edge of the bed. He approached her and held out the box for her to take.

She held the box in her hands for a moment before opening it. Inside of it was a silver ring with a small green gemstone embedded directly into the band.

"So," he said, "Don't get the wrong idea. This isn't a marriage proposal. However, I know things have been really bad for you since… forever. I figured a small gift might cheer you up." He grinned.

"What is the gemstone?" She slipped the ring onto the pinky finger of her right hand.

"Olivine. _Lunar_ olivine. The moon has a lot of that gemstone in generally poor condition and I've kept a few of the higher quality ones over the years."

"This is a gemstone from the moon?" She jumped to her feet and marvelled at the tiny but glistening gem. "It came from all the way there? That's amazing!"

"The gem itself is a magnesium iron silicate, so if it interferes with your magic you don't have to wear it."

"No, it's not going to interfere. It's too small and it's not pure iron." She hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

He returned the gesture. "I kind of enjoy spoiling you." He pressed his lips to hers and pulled off her cloak.

"You're cute," she shuddered from the cold, "I've had people offer me entire kingdoms in exchange for my hand."

"I've gotta step up my game." He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into his lap.

"You still haven't told me what you want for your birthday," she unzipped his coat, "I assume you want something unique."

"What do you give the man who has almost everything?" He kissed her neck and slipped her dress up over her head and let it fall to the floor.

She wrapped her legs around his torso and pulled her cloak up around them so they could be cozy. They kissed deeply, stealing each others' body heat for warmth.

"Maybe we should do this under the covers or in front of the fireplace," he muttered.

"Under the blankets sounds like a good idea but I really don't want to get up." She reached down and unzipped his pants. "I'm comfortable right here."

He groaned softly when she rubbed her groin up against his.

"Wait," he paused, "I don't think I packed condoms." He frowned over at the bag he had hastily packed.

"You're _still_ paranoid about that?" She frowned. "I don't think you trust me when I say that I can't get -"

"No, I believe you," he brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, "I'm just being responsible. Everyone in a relationship has to be responsible for their own contraceptives."

"There's always the other end." She pointed toward her backside.

"Still need condoms for that," he shook his head, "And other things."

She pursed her lips, "Alright," she lightly gripped his shoulders, "It's okay if you don't trust me but I wish you wouldn't lie to my face about it."

Silence.

"Ivo," she sighed, "Can you see yourself spending the rest of your life with me?"

"Honestly, that depends on how long the rest of my life is." He zipped up his pants and coat.

"What was it people call it now? Friends with benefits?" Sheptilah raised an eyebrow. She stepped down from his lap and pulled her clothes back on.

"That isn't what that is," he spoke softly, "I'm just being careful."

She pulled her cloak back on and turned to him, smiling gently. "I understand that you want a family someday but I don't. I can't risk having children that will be abused for their stones, so I would never 'trap' you by 'accidentally' becoming pregnant."

"Your race will die with you." He leaned forward. "If I were you I would have as many children as I could with as many different people as I could. Genetic variety, you know?"

"Your own little army of magicians." She sat down next to him.

"A dozen little Eggmans rolling around each with a glorious mustache of their own; even the girls." He joked.

"Would you give them names like Yolka, Shelly and Omletta?"

"Yes and little Tamago," he stroked his mustache, "The youngest of the twelve but with the bushiest mustache of all time."

"You'd have to make huge vehicle to transport them all in. You could call it the Egg Carton." She laughed.

"See? It's perfect. They'll have little Orbots and Cubots of their own and uncle Shadow can babysit."

"Yeah, I can't see Shadow agreeing to watch twelve kids." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"So? He can get Rouge and Omega to help." He shrugged.

The laughter died down and there was uncomfortable silence for a moment.

"I love you, you know."

"I know you do." He held her hand. "I'm pretty sure you have the capacity to love anyone and anything. If you can love Sonic you can love anyone."

She dragged her other hand down her face. "Not like _that_." She looked at him with her brows knit together.

He looked at her, slightly confused.

"Ivo," Sheptilah's eyebrows shot up, "I _love_ you." She was oddly calm and her emotional state was neutral. "I've wanted to tell you since before the eclipse that I'm nuts about you."

He sighed heavily. "Tilly," he squeezed her hand, "You mean a lot to me, too."

"Where I am from, or rather _when_ I am from, when you love someone it means you accept them wholly. I trust you and I care about you and I can accept that you don't feel the exact same way. Given your last relationship was with Katella I can absolutely understand your mistrust of me. Honestly, when I first came into your life you assumed I was going to take everything from you."

He felt a lump form in his throat.

"I know it's not just about the contraceptives. You've never really been cared for unconditionally, have you?"

"Not really." He dropped his gaze. He hated being read like a book.

"The ziggurat tried to trick you but you saw through it immediately. It showed you a whole, unbroken family that loved you. It felt so alien to you you absolutely realized it couldn't be true."

"Yes." He bit his lip.

"You've been very patient with me, you know. You may not realize it but you have. Patient, accommodating, understanding… so please don't feel like you need to lie anymore. I know you feel like you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop." She pressed the palm of his hand to her Oracle Stone. "I'm always barefoot!" She flashed a cheesy smile.

"It's funny," he pulled her closer, "The sun and the moon look like they're the same size from the perspective of the planet. The sun is millions of times larger and further away, making it seem so small and close; but it's not. It's not even a big star in of itself; it's only a medium sized one. You seem to have the same perspective of me as Mercury does to Sol."

"We have a story about the sun and the moon. The moon is a mirror and the sun is a burning lantern. The mirror was jealous of the lantern's light and sought to chase it. Sometimes the mirror became jealous enough that it crossed in front of the lantern, taking the light away from those of us on Zanu if only briefly.

"There was a second version of the same story. The sun and the moon were lovers that could only meet so often and they followed each other across the sky endlessly. When the moon was full it was at its happiest, but began to miss the sun again and the light waned. Sometimes the sun would rise when the moon was still visible because it's the closest they could get. A solar eclipse would be the only time the lovers could be together.

"The moon was always angriest during a lunar eclipse because Zanu was directly between it and the sun. That was how the ancients explained our strange behavior during the eclipses."

"Why are you telling me these parables?" He looked at her.

"Because we are neither of those. I will not take your light away and nothing will come between us. Alchemically, we may be the sun and the moon; but we will always be who we are: individuals. I will not hurt you and you may never trust me fully, but I will still follow you across the sky." She took off her clothes and got into bed. "Let's go to sleep now. I know you're exhausted."

Eggman dug into his bag, pulled out his pink onesie pajamas and changed into them. He crawled into bed and snuggled down under the covers and sighed softly. He tapped some buttons on his gauntlet and turned off the lights. Orbot, Cubot and Metal came in soon after and each went into sleep mode nearby.

He drew Sheptilah in close and put his arm around her.

Ivo thought about everything he learned today and mulled it over. A mismatched pair, they were. A witch and a scientist, a primitive woman and a super-advanced man, an animal lover and a robot lover.

 _It's weird how things work out,_ he mused to himself. _I guess it's like magnets where opposites really do attract._

His priorities were shifting. No longer was it only about world domination but instead world preservation and maybe, just maybe, finally moving on from his ridiculous pipe dream and settling down once and for all, living out the rest of his life in peace.

"I know what I want for my birthday."

"What is it?" She nuzzled him.

"To live in this one moment forever." He lightly kissed her on the forehead.

She smiled. "Is that all?"

"And all of my robots coated in Teflon." He grinned.

She clicked her tongue. "You're funny."

"For whatever it's worth I _can_ see us spending the rest of our lives together. I would probably be alone otherwise. Until now I never really noticed how nice it is just sharing a space with someone else and finding comfort in that." He closed his eyes. "And if I ever do have children I would kill anyone that even thought about hurting them."

"Would our kids have white hair or brown?"

"White hair but brown mustaches." He nodded.

"What if we adopt?"

"If we adopt a child then they will spontaneously grow a mustache. Mine is so fabulous that others just spawn around it."

She shape-shifted a gigantic version of his onto her own face. "It's contagious!"

"Quickly, we must operate!" He was laughing so hard he felt tears form in the corners of his eyes.

She wiped the mustache off with her hands. "Good night, Ivo."

"Good night, Tilly."

The next morning she awoke to the sensation of his hand running over her hip.

"Good morning." He smiled.

"Is it six already?" She yawned, "It's so early."

His hand trailed its way up to her breast, "I was thinking about what you said… I do trust you." He pulled her closer, pushing his erection against her thigh.

"Jeez," she covered her face with her hand and laughed, "Your arousal is impacting your ability to think, isn't it?"

"Absolutely," he kissed her neck, "It's hard when you sleep nude."

"Your robots are right there," she giggled quietly, "They're not objects; they're smart enough to be people."

"I don't care; they're in sleep mode until I activate them. They're as good as paperweights at the moment." He unzipped his pajamas.

They made love slowly, sleepily and quietly. The difference between using a condom or not was not nearly as dramatic as others may lead one to believe, but it did feel a little better for the both of them. She felt less discomfort but chalked it up to simply getting used the girth from all of the 'practice'. The heat of her body intensified his pleasure.

He moaned softly into her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck. At some points he experimented with holding her down or holding her hands at either side of her head to gauge her reaction. He noticed she seemed to like it, or at least didn't dislike it.

"You like to be held down, I see." He grinned mischievously. With his large hands he grabbed her wrists together and held them above her head on the pillow. With his free hand he pressed down firmly on her shoulder.

She nodded. "I'm yours to do with as you please in these situations."

He found this _incredibly_ arousing. "Perhaps I should invest in some silk rope to bind you with. You would be completely at my mercy. I could blindfold you and gag you and take my time sending you to the edge of ecstasy only to pull you back."

She struggled a bit against his firm hold on her. She bit her lip, barely hiding a smile. "Would you?"

 _It's so strange,_ she thought. _If you had told me I would be in this position months ago I would have laughed in your face. Now it just seems so perfectly natural._

"Whatever you like, my pet."

"Ivo, I love you so much. I'm yours now and forever." She lifted her head, beckoning him to kiss her. "And no one else's."

The only thing on his mind was enjoying the moment before it was inevitably quashed by the reality that is their chaotic lives. He worried, in the back of his mind, that even if they did end up starting a family that they'd have to constantly be on the run from GUN seeking to arrest him.

If they succeeded he would die in prison. Like grandfather, like grandson.

That's no way to live.

 _Maybe she could declare her own country at the ziggurat,_ he mused to himself. _She can make it so like on Bygone Island they have no jurisdiction. It'll be a kingdom of just us._

"And I'm yours." He kissed her deeply. "I don't want to be with anyone else."

"Do you love me, too?"

He was surprised by the question but could not find an answer. He quieted her by kissing her tenderly. He let go of her wrists and cupped her face with his hands, running his thumbs over her cheeks.

"Ah, I'm so close." He moaned. Their hot breath was visible in the cold air.

"Then claim me." She groaned, tightening her grip on him with her thighs.

He pulled out right before he came, his semen shot onto her stomach; some of it becoming trapped in her navel. He noticed she hadn't orgasmed yet so with his free hand he rubbed the pads of his fingertips across her clit.

She arched her back into the pleasure.

"Ah!" She cried out, writhing under his touch. After a moment she climaxed; her body convulsed a bit before she settled down, panting heavily.

"You do realize that your robots are in sleep mode but I'm not?" MARI spoke. "I may be 'blind' but I am certainly not deaf."

"MARI!" Eggman yelped. "What's wrong with you?"

"Maybe I'll remix the gross noises humans make," the AI mused, "It would make a disturbing version of Abba's _Fernando_. This is your wake up call; it's six a.m. now."

"I hate you _so_ much." He reached for the gauntlet on the nightstand.

'No, you don't." MARI corrected him. "You love me very much and think I am the coolest."

"I'm never having _actual_ kids," Eggman muted MARI, "My robotic ones are annoying enough."

Sheptilah laughed. "I told you it was a bad idea to do that with your robots in the room."

"Sometimes the dick overpowers the brain," he shrugged and smiled innocently, "Heh."

"Sex demons don't even use that excuse… " She cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, I am a lowly mortal that is going to go take a shower. You going to join me?"

"Sure, why not." She sat up and covered her navel with her hand so the semen wouldn't drip. They ran across the freezing cold floor to the bathroom and immediately turned on the hot water.

"Remind me to install a heated rug in this room." He said to himself.

"I like this outpost a lot. It's quiet and there's little iron but it's so cold." She complained as she washed herself off with olive-scented soap.

"What are you gonna do with your ziggurat?" He scrubbed himself off as well.

"That's a good question; I don't know. Restore it, probably." Sheptilah shrugged. "I have no idea."

"It is still in the middle of nowhere. You could probably just leave it as-is and create another one somewhere closer to civilization. Make it a hospital for very complex diseases or something." The hot water cascading over his body felt wonderful.

"That's a good idea," she smiled, "I'm rubbing off on you!"

"Dear God, you are." He laughed.

* * *

Katella flew her ship through space to another solar system on the other end of the galaxy to collect more alien life to sell on the black market. She was alerted by the strange message she had waiting for her on the computer.

It was a pre-recorded video of a man that seemed to be Ivo but he appeared older. His mustache was white instead of its usual reddish-brown. He was accompanied by MARI and a green hedgehog not unlike Sonic who chose to wear a black leather jacket and sunglasses indoors.

She listened to the message intently, disappointed at first that it wasn't Ivo himself calling to ask for her back.

"The witch will be yours to do with as you please when I am done experimenting on her. As you may know, she is the last of her kind anywhere in the universe. We understand that, according to your historical texts, you collect such creatures and sell them to the highest bidder." The white-haired man spoke gravely. "I'm sure she'd fetch quite a good sum to the right buyer."

The green hedgehog smiled, revealing his teeth were all filed to sharp points. MARI simply stared straight ahead, emotionless.

When she learned what the message was truly about a sinister smile spread across her face. She'd get her revenge on the bitch that tried to kill her but chickened out at the last second, leaving her alive and humiliated.

"That witch will burn at the stake," she said to herself, "Oh, _she will burn._ "


	51. Perfect Day

"Amy, I have my doubts." Sonic scratched his spines.

"I have to learn to fly to be a real witch, right?" Amy held her store bought broom between her legs and she crouched with it steadied between her knees.

"Regina didn't fly on a broom." He reminded her. "Neither did Wendy."

Tails was flying overhead to provide air support. Sticks and Knuckles remained on the ground with Sonic.

Sticks walked up to Amy and plopped a helmet onto her head. "You're gonna need this."

"There's magic in all of us," she adjusted the helmet, "There's magic in all of us…" She repeated the line Sheptilah told her every day.

"You can do it, Amy!" Knuckles clapped and cheered, "I believe in fairies!"

"That's Peter Pan," Sonic shook his head, "Ames, you can do it."

"Who is Peter Pan?" Knuckles furrowed his brow. "I don't know any Peters."

"Shh, guys." Amy shut her eyes tight and concentrated. A minute or two passed but nothing happened. Her jaw hurt from clenching it so hard. The pink hedgehog sighed and loosened her grip but didn't see the broom's bristles twitch.

"Maybe you should wait for the fairy-witch." Sticks huffed.

"I can do this!" Her frustration channeled from her chest to her fingertips and sent the broom flying but without her on it.

"Hit the deck!" Sonic cried as he dropped to the ground.

The besom flew into her house and bounced around the walls causing things to fall over and break.

"Woah! Come back!" Amy cried. The broom returned to her and floated safely beside her. She hesitantly mounted it. "Slow… _slowly…_ " She chided the object. "Good."

She rose up a few feet before the broom flew off at light speed and took Amy screaming with it.

Tails chased after her but couldn't keep up.

* * *

Thunderbolt initiated a group chat with all of the active Egg Bosses. The view from her office window in the brand new lair was stunning as it was situated on the edge of cliff.

"As you should know, Doctor Eggman's birthday is coming up. We will throw him a surprise party to show our appreciation." She spoke smugly from behind her impressive desk.

"What if he's planning something already?" Akhlut shrugged.

"I want to get ahead!" Thunderbolt slammed her hands down. "And we're throwing the party at my new lair. June twenty third at noon in my time zone! Be there or be sorry!" The chinchilla disconnected from the call leaving the others to linger

"Who is going to be the one to tell her Eggman is seeing the witch...?" Clove frowned.

"Not it." The others said in unison.

* * *

They couldn't keep their hands off of each other, much to the dismay of the robots. The thrill of a new relationship meant that everything about it was fresh and exciting. Each new discovery of what they liked and didn't like made things between them interesting and fun. Sheptilah sat under the white willow in the garden with Ivo's head in her lap, hand-feeding him pineapple chunks.

"I could get used to this," he grinned, "More fruit, darling."

"Whatever gets you to eat more fruit," she dropped another piece into his waiting mouth, " _Master_ ," she joked.

"I feel like a Greek god." He chewed noisily. "Hmm, but you probably knew them as the Mycenaeans."

"Not a clue, honey." A warm breeze rustled the leaves above them, scattering the sunlight that filtered through them like reflections off of a disco ball. The salty ocean air smelled clean and inviting as the sea threw itself against the outcrop.

"Amphomag is expensive," he watched the beams of sunlight broken up by motes of pollen, "I'm sure I can synthesize a large amount for our purposes, find the wiccaphages and douse them with it. We don't have to die."

"What then?" She leaned in, her hair resembling a silver veil.

"We can run away to a private island in the Tropic of Capricorn, frolic on the white beaches and make love all night. Our tanned, oiled-up bodies bringing some color against the sand as we lounge about lazily."

"Or we can repair my ziggurat." She held another chunk of pineapple between her index finger and thumb, juice threatening to drop onto Ivo's face. "Seeing as how I'm naturally brown-skinned."

He leaned up and wrapped his lips around the fruit, lightly sucking her fingers as he laid back down.

Her cheeks flushed crimson. "I've created a monster."

"Yes, you have." He grinned mischievously.

He suddenly frowned. "But then there's the issue of Shadow."

"Can't be an island paradise of just us," Tilly smiled, "My familiar will always need me and I will always need him."

"Boo. I've been enjoying the intimacy without fear of getting killed or hurt."

"Don't talk about Katella," Tilly gave him another piece of pineapple, "She won't bother us again."

"I've missed out on so much of my youth," he absentmindedly swallowed the chunk without chewing, "You're going to outlive me, right?"

"I have maybe another hundred and fifty years to go, yes," she popped a piece of pineapple into her mouth, "But I can extend _your_ life as well. I do have nearly unlimited healing powers."

"That's right, but won't you still look about the same while I'll be old and decrepit?" He imagined himself stooped over a walker with his still-hot girlfriend feeding him and changing his adult diapers, though certainly _not_ simultaneously.

"No! I age, too; just not when I'm in stasis, of course. I age a little slower but my healing powers would keep you somewhat fresh-looking as well."

"I want to be two hundred years old surrounded by a ton of grand and great-grandkids wearing a hat that says 'foxy grandpa'."

She leaned down and kissed him, rolling her tongue over his and enjoying the fruity taste that still filled his mouth.

A sudden whoosh of air made her open her eyes. She saw a familiar pair of red and white sneakers connected to thin blue legs.

"Sorry to interrupt but Amy needs your help!" Sonic panted. "We have to go to her house!"

His voice cutting through the romantic moment startled Eggman in such a manner that he accidentally bit down on Sheptilah's tongue.

"Nnn!" Tilly whined. She pulled her tongue free, some blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.

Eggman rolled off of Tilly's lap and spat out the blood onto the ground and looked up at the hedgehog.

"What's wrong with Amy?" Tilly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"She tried to fly on a broom but it took off with her on it and she might get hurt!"

"Why the _Hell_ would she try to fly on a broom?" Tilly cocked an eyebrow.

"Come on," Sonic pulled her by the wrist, "She could get really hurt!"

Tilly teleported Sonic and Eggman to Amy's house and looked up. Amy was rolling around overhead holding on for dear life with a very frantic Tails attempting to catch her.

"Amy, let go! I'll catch you!" Tails shouted.

"I'm scared, Tails!" She cried.

"It's okay! Let go!" The fox urged her.

Amy let go and was sent spinning in the air for a moment before Tails caught the very nauseous hedgehog.

The broom, without its rider, was confused and barreled back toward the ground faster than a bullet. The Mobians ducked down to avoid being impaled but as it zoomed by Eggman simply held his arm out and effortlessly grabbed it with his hand.

"Nice catch!" Sticks admitted. "Gimme that broom." The badger took the object and bent it until it snapped, cursing under her breath the whole time.

Tails landed with Amy and passed the hedgehog off to the witch to be cured of her motion sickness.

"Ames!" Sonic hugged her while she was still in Sheptilah's arms. This caused some of the spines on her head to dig into Sheptilah's rib cage. "What happened?"

"Sonic!" Amy blushed, "I don't know; I think the broom was fighting me."

"Why would you try to fly on a broom?" Tilly winced as the spines jabbed sharply and put the hedgehog down.

"It's what witches do." Amy rubbed her head.

"Thanks, buddy!" Sonic praised Tails. "Good catch."

The fox plopped on the ground to catch his breath. "It's what heroes do!"

Sheptilah bent down and picked up the ruined broomstick and looked it over. "Why would you not use one you made yourself?" The remains of the object rattled in her hand as she dispelled what magic was left in it.

"What? It's what I had laying around." Amy sighed.

"If you want to fly on something it's best if you make it yourself out of objects of natural materials." Tilly explained, "Or at least buy one from another witch."

Amy burst into tears, "I'll never be a good witch! I can't even get the _basics_ down!"

"Don't cry," Sonic comforted her, "You _are_ a good witch. You're a great witch, Amy."

"There's a learning curve," Eggman offered an explanation, "If it means anything you're ahead of Shadow in his magic."

"Nuh uh." Amy sniffed as she pulled off her helmet.

"Actually, since you've been on…" Sonic chose his words carefully. " _Leave_ , Eggman, Shadow hasn't had a whole lot of work to do anyway so he's been coming to the island a lot to practice his magic with Amy."

"Oh, great," Sticks piped up, "They government is gonna weaponize magic! That's the last thing we need. I'm taking all of the iron I can get my paws on."

"What about the witches who work with iron? Techno mages?" Eggman teased.

"You're right!" Sticks jumped up and down. "What's their weakness?!"

"Most people are weak to suckerpunches," Knuckles flexed.

"They're not going to weaponize magic, I won't allow it." Tilly stood defiantly with her hands on her hips. "I'll help you with your flying," She spoke to the pink hedgehog, "Try not to do anything like this again by yourself, though."

"I'll meet you back at the lair later." Eggman called to Tilly.

"Actually, you should stop by my hut later." The witch smiled. "Come on, Amy," Tilly urged the hedgehog to follow her back to her house.

"I am going to go back to lifting weights." Knuckles flexed.

"Yeah, I have to go finish my wiccaphage tracker and keep an eye open for updates on the Dubai Chaos Emerald. See you later, Sonic!" Tails bid him goodbye and flew away.

"Wait, I'm coming with!" Sticks chased after Tilly and Amy, leaving Sonic alone with Eggman.

" _So_ ," the blue hedgehog dug his toe into the sand, "I guess that uh… the date idea Amy cooked up worked."

"No." Eggman said.

"Well," Sonic shrugged, "That isn't what _I_ saw."

"My personal charm, vast wealth, immense intelligence and attractive looks are what hooked her." The Overlander brushed imaginary dirt off of his shoulder.

"Shadow is going to be pissed." The hedgehog warned him.

"Shadow knows but doesn't approve, obviously."

"Ah," Sonic furrowed his brow, "So that's what was bothering him, I guess." He put his arms behind his head and locked his fingers together. "Don't be stupid with this one."

"What do you mean, you overgrown pincushion?" Eggman squinted at his enemy.

Sonic looked at him knowingly. There was a weird moment of silence between the two before the hedgehog spoke up again.

"When we all first met her she was skittish and weak. We saw her attempt to warp from your lair to the shore and she only made it halfway before she fell into the water and was overturned by the waves. It wasn't graceful.

"Now she's out here picking up the pieces; even establishing her own little seelie court. She made herself a home trading life-saving magic for junk. Don't screw this up."

"You're too optimistic, hedgehog," Eggman frowned, "She and I are going to die, don't you know that? Our days are numbered. We're just passing the time, so to speak. With any luck we won't take Shadow down with us."

Sonic grinned mischievously, "You? Just die? Impossible. That would be too easy!" He then gasped softly when Eggman's words fully sunk in and lowered his arms.

"Now you're understanding the situation." The Overlander stooped a little to be more at eye level with the small Mobian. "You can't cheese your way out of this one. I'm doing my best to make sure it doesn't come to everyone blowing up like a hydrogen bomb, but I'm not confident it will end well for us at all. She had an entire kingdom attempt to fight them and they all died trying."

Sonic shifted his weight uncomfortably. "Well, the Eggman I know is unkillable and too stubborn to just give up." He gave Eggman a thumbs up, "You got your brains and your technology on your side. The space parasites won't know what hit them! This is the _future_ and we're going to show them what's what!"

Eggman paused for a moment before straightening his posture.

"One day you are going to be hit with the cold, hard reality of life and it's going to hurt. Enjoy your youth and innocence while you can, Sonic The Hedgehog."

"What are you talking about? Sincere optimism and a strong love for life is not innocence, and even if it was it wouldn't be ignorant to hold onto those things well into adulthood. You're going to trick yourself into giving up if you keep thinking like this." He felt anger flare up in his heart and his face became serious.

"When you hit a wall you gotta get up and go over it. When you hit the ground you have to shake it off and get back up on your feet. You only get one life in this whole universe; don't let it go so easily! There's still so much to do! You gotta live and make more robots for me to destroy."

Eggman rarely saw this side of Sonic but when he did he knew that there was no way to convince the hedgehog otherwise.

"And when you do make it out in one piece, victorious and thriving, you had better take care of that witch or I will personally come by and kick your butt." Sonic stomped his foot, "Ooh! I'm all fired up now!"

"Don't hurt yourself," the Overlander couldn't help but chuckle, "Your spines are all bristled. Maybe we can throw you to the wiccaphages and poke them to death."

Sonic adjusted his stance and rubbed his index finger under his nose. "I'm gonna go for a run, smell you later, Egghead." And with that he sped off like a bolt of blue lightning.


	52. Love Is Strange

The scientists soon found that witch blood was impossible to test.

Under the microscope the blood was normal in appearance except that all of the cells were four times the size they should be.

"Macrocytosis," the doctor noted, "But the plasmocytes, phagocytes and miscellaneous skin cells are all enlarged." He was speaking into a recording device so he could transcribe his discoveries later.

"Blood is unreactive toward hydrogen peroxide at any percentage, soaps and bleach. Chemical analysis of the blood shows an unusually low percentage of iron and some presence of a chlorophyll-like material."

Tower opened the door to the lab and demanded that someone clean the blood off of his face.

"I can't get it off no matter how much I scrub! I have a video meeting with the Dubai Jewelry Museum director in an hour!"

"We can't get any of it off of our equipment, either." The doctor shook his head. "You'll have to bring the witch back here to help remove it."

"How are you unable to dissolve this tissue? This is one of the best equipped labs in the _world_." He huffed. "It's just blood."

* * *

Eggman felt claustrophobic in Sheptilah's hut. Shelves and boxes were overstuffed, barely holding random assortments of items like old books, bundles of cloth, jars of small things.

She had evidently painted notes on the walls in a combination of Nannaeic, English and Latin and some appeared to be cooking recipes, decorated with filigree around the edges to mark off individual subjects. Every square inch of the place was covered in something, be it paint, ashes or pots full of magical concoctions.

Except the tiny kitchenette. It was somehow kept tidy and spotless.

Along the ceiling in one corner was a patched-together curtain of silks and beads that reached the floor. This gave her some privacy as her bed was behind it. The four post bed itself was carved from a large slab of wood with a sun, moon and stars topping each corner. On it was an overstuffed mattress and puffy comforter.

The room smelled of sandalwood incense and saltwater.

"I want to put in a fireplace here," she gestured to a wall, "And maybe put in my own bedroom with an actual door elsewhere."

"Where is your _bathroom?_ " He looked around nervously.

She pulled a wood panel aside, revealing a hidden water closet that had only a toilet in it.

"So where do you bathe?"

"The ocean," she shrugged, "Saltwater is good for your skin!"

"Why do you allow yourself to live in such squalor?" He pouted, his mustache drooping.

"Squalor? Everything here is mine." She closed the panel and went over to her bed and flopped back on it. "It's all mine. I made most of this place with my own two hands."

"Wouldn't you rather have nice things like a hot shower and a brand new comforter? A big home to keep everything in instead of having it all over the place?"

"Ivo, I can't live in your lair; the iron makes my body hurt." She shook her head.

He sat on the edge of the bed next to her, surprised by its softness. "You deserve better than this."

"No, you think this place is overstuffed and sad. Your home is so huge and clean because it's minimalist. Mine is tiny and full of actual, literal junk."

"I expect your hut actually gets up on giant chicken legs and walks around, Baba Yaga." He smirked.

She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "I am the resident witch, not Baba Yaga. I don't live in a forest."

"A forest, a jungle, what's the difference? Climate. The difference is climate. You are a Baba Yaga whether you like it or not. You even have the tons of white hair."

"I'm not Slavic; I am what you would call a Persian. _Sahira_ , which is Arabic for 'witch', is what I am. However if you were so inclined you could also call me a djinn." She squinted.

"I don't think you're a genie," he laughed, "You don't live in a bottle!"

"Oh, no. Djinn is just another way to say fae folk, or fairies. I guess I am a fairy, I don't know. Amy and I have been discussing it lately. The allergy to iron is a big thing to them. To me, in my time, fairies were little bug-like creatures that caused devastation and illness just because they could. I took it as an insult but I suppose things have changed and so has historical context. She showed me pictures of beautiful people with insect wings."

"Ah, well, if it makes you feel any better scientists classify and reclassify animals all the time." He brushed the hair out of her face with a finger, a habit he couldn't break.

Thunder rumbled outside followed by heavy rain pounding against the roof.

She smiled, "Yes, so I suppose I am a fairy; I don't really see myself as one but it doesn't bother me so much now to be called one." She pulled him to her and pressed her warm lips to his. "I've got a surprise for you."

She fished some braided silk cord out from under her pillow and handed it to him, her head hung with slight embarrassment. "Do as you wish."

He took the cord and ran his gloved fingers over it, astonished. "So you were serious."

She brought her wrists together and held out her hand, head still down. "Well, yes." She curled her fingers in expectantly. "I trust you won't hurt me."

He set the cord down to the side and pulled off her clothes, one by one. The anticipation made Sheptilah's heart race when he pushed her down onto the bed and drew up her wrists to the bedposts, tying them firmly in place. He made sure he could slip a finger under the knot so that he wouldn't cut off blood flow to her hands.

He paused for a moment, fully drinking in the image before him. She looked up at him, smiling innocently and giggling with delight.

"What's so funny?"

"You're blushing!" She said between chuckles.

"I just… I'm not used to having another person tied down for a sexual reason. This is new for me."

"Did you want to stop?"

"No, I don't want to stop; I am just a little nervous. I don't want you to be hurt."

"I'm fine! I can free myself if I have to."

He opted to stay clothed as a form of dominance, fucking her through his unzipped pants. Deep in his heart he didn't enjoy not having her hands on him. It felt almost pointless when your lover was tied down but she enjoyed it and that's all that matters, isn't it?

The heavy rain and booming thunder drowned out their sounds of lovemaking. He loved the look on her face when she was close to orgasm; brow furrowed and cheeks glistening with sweat. She bit her lip to try and keep her immodest noises from getting too loud.

"You don't have to be quiet," he whispered into her ear, "I love hearing you scream, my desert flower."

"Ivo," she huffed, "Anyone could hear us as they walk by." _Desert flower?_ She thought, _how silly._

"The noise is drowned out by the rain; and so what if someone hears us? I don't care if someone finds out that I drive you wild." His mouth curled up into a devilish grin. "It's just another thing I'm excellent at."

"Ah… ah." She moaned, tossing her head to the side. "Yes." She bit her lip.

He loved squeezing her ass between thrusts and watching the way her breasts moved with each impact of his hips into hers.

"I love you so much…" She said between gasps. "Ivo… when I look at you it fills me with warmth…"

Those words made his heart flutter and butterflies form in his stomach.

"Shh…" He untied her wrists and kissed her. "You're rambling…"

"Sorry…" She wrapped her arms around him, holding him very close.

"May I come?" She shut her eyes tightly.

"Of course, my pet." Before she could speak he kissed her again, successfully stifling a very strong cry. Her fast breathing soon became slower and more quiet.

Against his better judgement he came inside her. She enjoyed feeling each twitch of his cock fading in intensity coupled with their soft pants of exertion.

He laid down next to her and slid his hand under her pillow only to be pricked by something: it was one of Shadow's spines.

He held up the dead spike. "Shadow shares this bed with you?"

"Sometimes he sleeps here, yeah." She took the object from him and dropped it on the floor. "I wash my bedding before he comes over. Don't tell him I told you this but his tail wags in his sleep."

"Oh my God that's so cute." Ivo snickered.

"It gets better," she whispered, "He makes snuffling noises, too. When he's having a bad dream he curls into a ball. I'm not surprised he's left pricklies all over the place."

"I love when you speak English. That accent of yours is so sexy." Ivo teased.

"Tch," she clicked her tongue, "I'm not exotic."

"You're the last of your race, you cannot get any more exotic than that. Literally," he ran his hand over her bare hip, "However, I'm not trying to exotify you in a creepy way. I just like the way your accent sounds. Sometimes you fuse your vowels and put emphasis on weird parts of words. When you pause to think of the word you want to use you look up and it's so cute." He smiled, "And the way you drop the 's' when you pluralize words sometimes."

"Oh, the esteemed Dock-otorr Eggu-mann lohvs my acksenn," she said, "How zweet!"

"If your accent had a flavor it would be warm cinnamon." He flirted.

"Ooh, cinnamon!" Sheptilah giggled.

"Hey, can I ask a dumb question?" He bit his lip sheepishly.

"Sure…?"

"I can't be _that_ good in bed, so why do you seem to enjoy it so much?"

"Oh!" She blushed deep crimson. "I shape-shift my lower half to work like any other erogenous zone so you couldn't do wrong even if you wanted to. Except with edging, gods I hate that!"

"You dirty cheater! Next time promise me you won't do that, I wanna know how bad I really am." _Then again, easy mode wouldn't be a terrible benefit._

"Oh, honey it's not your fault if you're actually bad. You're just a mortal." She giggled.

He picked up a pillow and lightly shoved it in her face. "Succubi have ruined you!"

"Oh, absolutely!" Her laughter was muffled. She pulled the pillow away and looked at him lovingly. "I don't know what to say except… I feel like I was made for you."

"Hm?"

"Like… I was meant to be found by you because you are my destined soul mate."

"You believe in that stuff?" He said with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, I do." Her gaze dropped to his lips before being cast to the side. "It's okay if you don't feel the same way." She frowned. "I'm used to it." She curled up in the fetal position and sighed.

"Darling, what's wrong?" He touched her shoulder.

"Nothing," she lied, "Nothing at all."

Her phone rang from under the bed. She reached down and saw on the screen that it was President Tower calling.

"What the _Hell_ does he want?" She picked up, "Hello?"

"Sheptilah! How do I get this blood off of my face?" He sounded anxious and annoyed.

"Slow down," she frowned, "You're speaking too fast."

"How. Do. I. Get. Your blood. Off of. My face!?" He mocked her.

"Witch blood does not wash away." She concentrated on speaking correctly. "I will come get it."

"Come get it?"

"I said I will come get it. I will be there in a moment but I want an apology." She looked over at Ivo who shrugged.

"Apology? Apologize for what?" Tower spat.

She sighed with disgust. "I don't like speaking English. I will be there. Meet me at the vestibule." She hung up the phone and sat up. "I will be right back." She snapped her fingers so that she was now redressed and teleported to the fortress.

* * *

Tower, with Apollo the fox as his guard, was waiting at the gate.

She arrived not long after and painlessly drew the blood back into her body.

"Thank you." he said stoically.

"I hope you understand why I reacted the way I did." She crossed her arms.

"I suppose manners aren't something you've learned yet, given you're so primitive," He turned to leave, "So I understand perfectly."

"Primitive!?" She stomped her foot. "You must be under some _incredible_ pressure as the head of a military organization this massive but you _still_ should know how to treat people one-on-one!"

"Does it matter, Sheptilah?" He turned to her. He looked her up and down and saw her disheveled look and reddened wrists. "You're too busy scrambling eggs to really care."

She paused for a second; her serious expression gave way to uncontrollable laughter. "Scrambling eggs! That's hysterical!" Her stomach hurt from laughing so hard.

Apollo cracked a smile at her reaction; a smile he hoped Tower didn't see.

"Scrambling eggs," she wheezed, "You're an asshole but that one got me. Oh my _gods_ I'm going to tell him that _right now_." She gasped for air. "Oh, I needed that."

She swallowed hard to steady herself. "I love the big idiot, okay? I don't really have time to care what anyone thinks about it."

"Does _he_ love you?" Tower smirked.

"Hm, probably." She shrugged. "It's his loss if he doesn't." She teleported away before he could respond.

"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, sir, but did you really have to refer to it as scrambling eggs?" Apollo couldn't keep back his laughter anymore and snickered.

Tower shook his head. "I thought of it a week ago and have been waiting since to use it."

* * *

Sonic laid in his hammock staring out the ceiling and doing math in his head to help him fall asleep. It wasn't the noisy weather that kept Sonic awake as he found some solace in the white noise, it was the nightmares. The horrific images had come back in full swing leaving the poor hedgehog unable to relax.

"Pi is three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-…" He rolled over, making the hammock creak. He sighed with disgust before sitting up. He sped over to Tails' house to make sure the thunder wasn't bothering him.

Tails was curled up in bed wearing noise-cancelling headphones. Sonic tucked him in, lightly kissed the top of his head and sped off to the witch's hut.

He stopped at the door when he heard voices.

"Ivo, do you love me?" Sheptilah asked.

Sonic's ears stood straight up. He snuck to the window and peeked into the candlelit hut.

Eggman was redressed and standing before Sheptilah with one hand rubbing the back of his head.

"What?" He stalled.

"Do you love me?" She repeated in English.

Sonic's eyes grew wide and followed Eggman as he paced around the room.

"Why do you ask?" He grinned nervously at her.

"Curiosity."

Sonic peered further over the windowpane to get a better view, erroneously believing the darkness of night would hide him.

"Define love," he flashed a crooked smile.

 _Just answer, you idiot!_ Sonic thought. _It's like pulling teeth!_

Tilly crossed her arms and sneered. "It's okay if you don't."

 _Thank the gods Amy isn't here_ , the hedgehog bit his lip, _she'd have busted in by now and killed him._

"Oh, ho ho," he ran his fingers through his mustache, "Of course I love the idea of being with-," he turned to the window when movement caught his eye, "Sonic!?"

Busted! The hedgehog ducked out of view.

"You love _Sonic?_ " She cocked an eyebrow.

"No! Look!" He pointed to the window at seemingly nothing.

"Stop stalling," she pouted, "Yes or no."

"I'm not stalling; I'm telling you he was right there…" Eggman tapped his foot. "Sonic, come out."

Sonic raised his hand sheepishly and waved. He stood up and smiled nervously. "Am I interrupting?"

Eggman gestured smugly at Sheptilah.

"Oh, you really weren't stalling." She admitted. "What brings you here?"

"Can't sleep, zombies will get me." Sonic pouted.

"Night terrors again?" Ivo sighed.

Sonic nodded.

"Come in," she opened the door for the Mobian, "You're dripping wet."

Sonic shook the rainwater off of his spikes not unlike a dog and stepped into the hut.

 _Thanks for saving my ass,_ Eggman mouthed to him.

The hedgehog shot him a glare.

"I haven't fully organized the spells necessary to get my hut up and running but I can do most of it." She cleared off a space on her table and snapped her fingers.

"Leather cord." She commanded. A drawer opened somewhere and a spool of black braided leather cord flew to her hand. "Rose quartz," she beckoned a large chunk of the mineral to her other hand and placed both items on the table.

"Betony, chrysoprase, malachite, frankincense oil and star of Bethlehem." All of the items came to her except for the last.

"House, star of Bethlehem, please."

"Um…" Sonic looked around.

"Are you trying to summon three Magi?" Eggman laughed. "Frankincense and the star of Bethlehem?"

"Shh!" Tilly tapped her foot. "House, bring me star of Bethlehem."

After a moment something rattled and came flying to her: a Star of David on a gold chain.

"No, House! This is the star of David, I'm not asking for this. What I want is a kind of plant."

"You're talking to your house?" The hedgehog's ears were pinned back.

"It … understands you?" Eggman was nervous. "So do the walls have ears, too?" He was a little ashamed of what just occurred if the house was sentient.

"She wants _ornithogalum umbellatum_." MARI chirped.

"Try asking for-" Ivo began but was interrupted by Sheptilah breezing by him.

"I know where it is, the house is just being difficult." She jumped up and grabbed some of the little white flowers from a shelf and returned to the table.

She combined the items with magic and made a small black amulet affixed to the leather cord for Sonic to wear around his neck before going to sleep.

"Normally malachite is a toxic mineral by itself but when combined like so it's harmless; unless you swallow the stone. You might choke on that." She winked playfully.

"It smells nice." The hedgehog smiled as she put the necklace on him.

"That's just a bonus. Nice smells make it easier to sleep. You won't dream at all with this on but you will still be just as rested when you wake up." She patted the top of his head.

"Thanks," he ran his thumb over the gem that was hidden under his neckerchief, "I hope it works."

"Well, if it doesn't I'll try something else." She shrugged. "Now go home, it's really late."

Sonic nodded and sped off back out into the rain. The breeze he caused with the displacement of air blew out some of the lit candles.

"So your house… understands you?" Ivo walked up to her.

"Not really," she put the Star of David chain away, "Not like a person would. It's just one of those apothecary spells. You walk in, say what you need and it comes flying at you. It's not fully set up." She rubbed an eye with the back of her fist.

"Are you okay?"

"Ivo, if you don't love me you can just say so." She tried to avoid eye contact by pretending to tidy up.

"Tilly," he stooped, "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" She tried to sound uninterested.

"I don't know how I feel. I've never been this stable with anyone or anything this long before." He reached forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "If it means anything, Sheptilah, I care about you a lot."

She leaned in and hugged him tightly. "See? Was that so hard? It's okay to be unsure."

"Yes," he stroked her hair, "It actually was that hard to admit it. I'm going back to my lair to finish up some work. I'm almost done with creating something to deactivate the implants in my Egg Bosses."

"Ah, you remembered." She smiled.

"Yes," he kissed her forehead, "I look forward to testing it tomorrow on some stunt dummies."

"That's a mean thing to call Orbot and Cubot."


	53. Cool Kids

Hope and Team Dark were in a meeting room together with photos and illustrations of current tectonic plate activity highlighted on maps projected onto the wall.

"Two small quakes off the coast of Downunda, four off the coast of Japan and three scattered randomly throughout the Southern Hemisphere. I don't like this." Hope was four coffees into her notes. "All of the quakes are about a seven on the Richter scale."

"The geologists and seismologists I've contacted have not gotten back to me yet, either." She agitatedly tapped her empty styrofoam cup with her fingers. "According to the National Earthquake Information Center they record about fifty quakes a day. What makes _these_ quakes weird is they're not all occurring on fault lines and almost none of them have aftershocks."

"Any tsunamis?" Rouge thumbed through some of the photos Hope had printed out.

"Nothing higher than a few feet by the time it came to shore; so no, not really." The Overlander tried to sip her coffee only to realize the cup was empty and crushed it in her hand.

"Some satellite imagery, courtesy of NASA and our friend Ulala, shows some large white masses moving under the ocean near the surface but the photos are unclear and it looks like it _could_ just be plastic continents. You know, those massive collections of plastic pollution that just rolls around killing whales." Hope took a deep breath.

"I'm willing to bet the witch-eater things are hiding out in the ocean and these unclear photos are them. I also believe they're causing the quakes now more than ever."

"Show this to Tower. He can send some scouts out to see what these moving things really are. I don't know about them being able to cause quakes, though. I hope it's just a coincidence." Rouge put the photos back down.

"I agree. The wiccaphages we encountered back in Soumerca and the ziggurat were really dangerous but even in big groups I'm not sure they could cause damage like that." Shadow crossed his arms, "Then again… we don't know how many are there or how they even survived so long in the core of the moon."

"I can't believe I'm going to say this but… talk to Eggman. His base is on the moon, right? Or at least one of them? I need footage and data from the core. The more information we have the better equipped we will be." Hope tossed the crushed cup into a nearby wastebasket.

"Looks like I'm going back to the lair," Shadow sighed, "Not like we have anything else to do around here; and get some sleep. You're working yourself to death."

"Yeah." Rouge smiled. "We can have a girl's day out! Or a girl's day in, it's up to you, Hope. My treat either way."

"I'd rather stay in and keep working…" She looked at her unsteady hand and noted how she couldn't hold her fingers still. "I do need a break, though."

* * *

A lone watermelon with THUNDERBOLT written across it in black marker sat on a table in a weighted plexiglass cube. Eggman put on his protective goggles and handed Sheptilah a pair. Orbot and Cubot watched close by while Metal Sonic was patrolling the island.

"Phase one." Ivo said as he ran a small remote across the watermelon. "That _should've_ deactivated it." He pressed a button on his gauntlet. For a moment it appeared the bomb was inert when the watermelon exploded with a soft _plap_ , the pureed fruit completely coating the inside of the cube.

"Congratulations, you just killed the chinchilla." Tilly raised an eyebrow.

"Orbot, bring in the next big fruit." He commanded.

"But boss, you're already here." Cubot shrugged.

Ivo grabbed Sheptilah's goggles and threw them at the robot who ran off squealing.

Next was another watermelon Eggman labeled as 'Nephthys'. The box was replaced and another remote key was used to try and deactivate the bomb. They eventually ran through sixteen whole watermelons with no safe results.

"Incoming call from the Artika base." MARI chirped.

"Yes?" Eggman spoke into his gauntlet.

"Sir?" Tundra's voice came through, "Two things: one, the oceanic quakes are getting worse and some of the ice sheets here are beginning to crack dangerously. It's unclear if this is due to climate change or the suspicious quakes across the oceans. Second thing: Thunderbolt is throwing a _surprise_ party for you at her new base tomorrow so you need to go there at some point. She is forcing all of us to go."

Sheptilah picked up a chunk of destroyed fruit and began to munch on its delicious innards.

"What are you, a _rat?_ Don't eat food off the floor!" Eggman scolded her.

"I'm sorry?" Tundra was confused.

"No, not you, Tundra, I'm yelling at my girlfriend."

"Girlfriend? Is that a downgrade or an upgrade from Egg Boss?" Orbot mused.

"It's a promotion!" Ivo declared.

"Downgrade." Orbot and Cubot said in unison.

"Am I interrupting something?" The walrus asked.

"No, just working on getting the implants removed safely, as promised. However, current experiments involving watermelons in place of brain-filled skulls are proving not so easy."

"So you _are_ going to keep that promise after all."

"Am I _not_ a man of my word?" He paused. "Don't answer that."

"I'm going to eat this fruit and you can't stop me." Tilly swallowed a mouthful of fruit, much of it sticking to her face.

"You are a grown woman! You look like a hamster." He sighed.

"I am a _hungry_ grown woman," she stuck out her tongue, "But I decided that desert hamsters are the cutest rodents so I will take _that_ as a compliment."

"Sir?" Tundra tried to get Eggman's attention.

"Yes, sorry," the Overlander huffed, "I will humor the chinchilla because I know if I don't she will kill us all. Goodbye." Eggman hung up and turned back to Sheptilah who was still face-deep in a watermelon rind.

"What? Wasting food is bad." She swallowed.

Ivo let out a disgusted sigh and went back to work.

Shadow pulled his phone from the charger and slipped it into a little gap in his spikes. He turned to leave his dorm when he saw Hope, Rouge and Boris in the doorway. Boris was holding a paper plate with a large chocolate cupcake and a lit birthday candle stuck in the center.

"Happy birthday!" They said in unison.

"We didn't forget," Rouge smiled, "We knew you'd want to keep it quiet, but we did bring gifts."

Shadow smiled. "You didn't have to do this."

"We got you something special, too." From behind her back Rouge pulled out a vintage-style turntable in a collapsible suitcase in a soft powder blue.

"And to go with it." Hope pulled a small worn out vinyl record sleeve. It was The Chordettes' greatest hits.

"The turntable is new but the vinyl is an original pressing. It's a copy my mother gave me when I was really young," Boris said, "I only listened to it once or twice and we tested it so it still works just fine."

"This is so cool," Shadow took the gifts, "Thank you so much. I listened to The Chordettes a lot when I was growing up on the ARK."

"Happy birthday, old man," Rouge embraced him tightly, "Now eat your cupcake! That is, if it won't ruin your dentures."

"Respect your elders," he joked. He put the turntable and the vinyl on his bed and took the cupcake. "Thanks for not making it a big deal. I don't like being reminded of how absolutely old I am."

Hope hugged Shadow tightly, careful to not make him drop his treat. Boris opted to shake Shadow's hand firmly in lieu of a hug, something greatly appreciated by the hedgehog. He blew out the candle but forgot to make a wish.

* * *

" _Inside, outside, upside down!_ " Sonic sang as he strummed his guitar, tapping his foot to the beat. " _You got me goin' 'round and 'round!_ "

Tails was with him and began to sing along while playing the drums, " _Backwards, forwards, sideways, too!_ "

" _You've got me dizzy from lovin' you,_ " they sang in unison, " _Don't you know that I love you -_ "

The music was interrupted by Tails' coughing fit.

"You okay there, buddy?" Sonic turned to the fox.

"I think I'm coming down with a cold," he choked, "Let's keep going. I think a bit of saliva just went down the wrong pipe, that's all."

"We can practice later if you're not feeling well," Sonic strummed a few chords.

Tails tried to suppress the coughing but nearly caused himself to throw up when he did.

"Talk to the witch, dude." Sonic took off his glove and pressed the back of his hand to Tails' forehead to feel for a fever. "Hm, you are _kinda_ warm."

"I don't want to run to the witch to have every little illness cured for me. That's a great way to kill any immunity I could've built up. This is how societies collapse, Sonic." Tails coughed, "But I _will_ see a doctor."

"You're so dramatic." The hedgehog laughed. "Helping you isn't going to bring the world to its knees."

"It's true, though. I'll be fine." The fox frowned.

"I'll make you some soup," he took off his guitar and set it against the wall, "Even if it is ten in the morning."

"Thanks, Sonic." Tails moved over to the sofa. "Chicken noodle, please."

"Coming right up!" The hedgehog chirped. "You want those little oyster cracker things?"

"Yes," Tails stretched out, "Thank you so much."

* * *

Sheptilah sat sidesaddle on her staff in midair while Amy floated next to her on her own broom. Amy's broom was not very well-made, but it was _hers_ and it worked.

"I'm so proud of you, Amy," she smiled, "You're the best apprentice a witch could ever ask for."

"You've taught me so much." The hedgehog laughed nervously when her broom bucked. "Thank you."

"Someone has to pass on my knowledge after I'm gone. It's important that my people's accomplishments aren't lost to time." Sheptilah was uncomfortable sitting instead of standing on a flying object, but quickly grew used to it.

"We could translate the whole grimoire into English if you want, but it is a family grimoire and it would feel wrong to make it public domain." Amy slapped her broom lightly to get it to behave. The object obliged the chiding and steadied itself.

"So much would be lost if we didn't … Eh, I'll scry about it later." She waved off her concerns.

They flew around the island, careful to not be too far apart, too high or too fast. At some points Sheptilah had to grab hold of Amy's broom to give it a boost or steady it. The feeling of free falling and the cool breeze blowing through their hair was exhilarating.

"Maybe next time we'll make it thicker like a walking stick." Amy yelped when the broom briefly flipped her upside down, "Or maybe the thickness of Knuckles' skull!"

"What did I say!?" Sheptilah smacked the bristles. "Behave!" The broom righted itself immediately.

"Why does your staff behave but _my_ broom doesn't?" Amy frowned.

"Who knows. I'm used to flying on rocks." She laughed. "Let's go back to my hut and try making another broom. I really do think a thicker handle will help."

The duo flew back to the hut only to find there were dozens of potted plants strewn around the property along with bouquets of red roses and small gift bags.

"Someone must really like you." Amy landed gracefully. "There's a note on your door," she pointed to a folded letter stuck in the door jamb.

Tilly dismounted from her staff and pulled the note out and unfolded it.

 **Dear Tilly,**

 **I'm sorry about what I said, or rather what I** ** _didn't_** **say. Please accept this apology.**

 **Ivo**

"Is he serious?" The witch frowned, "I told him I wasn't mad."

"Black Magic Dark Red roses!" Amy picked up a bouquet and shoved her face into the blossoms, inhaling deeply. "In flower language roses this dark mean love, longing, desire, regret and sorrow."

"I don't think he's savvy enough to know flower meanings." Tilly smiled, "How sweet."

"What's all this about?" Amy leaned over and peeked into a bag.

"I asked if he loved me and he didn't have an answer and I told him it's okay to not know how you feel and he kinda just… ran off."

"He so totally does!" The hedgehog was bouncing on her heels, "I wish Sonic would do something nice like this for me."

"Where am I gonna keep all these plants? I think I need a bigger house…" Tilly picked up a bouquet of pink roses and held them up to Amy's face. "These match you perfectly!"

"Ladies." A deep, familiar voice crooned.

"Ivo!" Tilly turned around and saw Eggman standing with Orbot, Cubot and Metal beside him. "And you brought your kids!"

She looked them over then swapped to English. "Oh, their colors are slightly brighter. You boys look _fresh_."

"We just got Teflon makeovers." Cubot posed as if he was a supermodel on the runway. "Work it, baby!" He cheered for himself.

"Fabulous!" Orbot clapped for his brother. " _And_ wiccaphage-proof!"

Metal Sonic looked at his hand before turning his attention to scanning the jungle for threats.

"I see the flowers arrived on time," the Overlander chuckled, "Uh, too much?"

Eggman's clothes were different from his usual outfit. Today he sported a dark blue suit with a gray polo under the blazer and nice shoes with a fancy black fedora hiding his bald head.

"A little," the witch blushed, "I _told_ you I wasn't mad."

"I still felt… oh, hi, Amy." He waved to the hedgehog. "Look in the bags, Tilly."

Sheptilah picked up a small green one, inside of it were many seed packets. "Seeds!"

" _Poisonous_ plant seeds!" He beamed, "But I meant the other bag." He pointed to a blue bag with his chin.

She picked it up and looked inside. "Two tickets to the Metropolitan Museum of Art?"

"Oh! The Met!" Amy clapped her hands together, "How exciting! How _romantic!_ "

"Make yourself scarce, sweetheart." Eggman leered at Amy.

Tilly clicked her tongue disapprovingly at Ivo. She turned to the hedgehog and smiled sweetly, assuring her it was okay.

"Oh, sorry, bye!" Amy put the bouquet down, took hold of her broom and ran off.

"Don't be rude, Ivo," Tilly frowned.

"Sorry; I just want it to be us for now. There's some exhibits you should really see. Some of your people's art is on display and it needs translating. I was hoping we could leave now."

"Where is the museum?" She tilted her head.

"New York city."

"Where is that?"

"Far away enough that we have to use a warp ring. I did get you something cute to wear, it's in my lair right now. When you're ready meet me there and we'll get going. I have a wonderful night planned for us."

"Ivo," she pushed her hair behind her ear, "What if I had something planned?"

"I know you don't have anything planned."

"Not a damned thing," she scrunched up her nose, "Except it's _Shadow's birthday._ "

 _Oh._

"That's _today_?" Eggman looked horrified. "I do have a gift but I thought that was tomorrow."

"Yes!" Tilly shrugged, "You _could_ invite him along with us as a last-minute thing."

"Alright, fine," he huffed, "I wasn't planning on getting lucky anyway."

She scoffed and flapped her hand at him. "Give me a moment."

She shuffled past all of the potted plants and pulled her phone off of the charger, sticking it into her pocket. She left the hut closing the door behind her and picked up the staff.

"I'm not sure they're going to allow you to bring that in with you," he frowned. "Maybe leave it with Shadow."

She thought about this but shook her head, "I can glamorize it to be the size of a pen, I guess. I'm not sure it'll take to being shrunk, though."

"Give it a try." He urged.

Metal Sonic again scanned the area. Something was coming.

"Okay." She concentrated. Before she can apply any sort of glamour to the staff Metal instinctively stood in front of Eggman.

"Threat detected." The robot spoke. "Shadow The Hedgehog approaching."

"Stand down," Eggman commanded, "Shadow is a friendly; for now."

"What happened to your house? It looks like a florist exploded." The hedgehog approached the group, "You're dressed nice." He looked Eggman over, "Funeral?"

"Ah ha ha, no," Eggman feigned a laugh. "I'm taking my girlfriend on a date."

"Ah," Shadow turned to Sheptilah, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Actually, we're going to the Met to watch a live dissertation on the Nannae. Since you're her familiar, and it _is_ your birthday, you should come too, Shadow."

"A, so it's my loss, too. Wouldn't I be a third wheel?"

"No," Tilly shrugged, "It's okay."

Shadow pondered this, "Sure, why not. If Sonic hears I'm here he's going to ambush me and force me to have a happy birthday. Going to New York City _would_ be nice. You and I do need to talk, though."

"About what?" Ivo cocked an eyebrow.

"GUN business."

"Fine, come back to the lair with me and Sheptilah, she's gotta get changed anyway."

Shadow leaned against the office wall with his arms crossed while Sheptilah was in Eggman's room changing her clothing.

"I do have some footage of the lunar core," Eggman flipped through some photos on the big screen, "I just assumed these marks were from when I destroyed half of it."

The core looked hollow inside, with strange scratches and deterioration on parts that should never have existed, even with the destruction.

"I never thought they could be chemical burns, but rather I assumed it was just molten iron that formed oddly from the sudden exposure to the thin lunar atmosphere."

"Can your robots up there get core samples delivered to GUN?"

"Sure." Ivo turned to the hedgehog and looked him over. "You think the wiccaphages were alive the whole time in the core?"

"Yes, and I have a hunch they were evolving."

"Five thousand years isn't long enough for any one species to evolve significantly without human interference."

"These are alien parasites though and they had magic used on them."

"Fair point," Ivo tapped his chin with a finger.

"The one at the ziggurat was _too_ smart. It talked to us, especially when it had Maria's form."

"But _that_ Maria was holding a Chaos Emerald and the real Emeralds' energy can't touch the wiccaphages or it makes them explode. It was probably a magical projection."

"That's true." Shadow admitted.

"I'll send Metal up there to get some samples tomorrow. For now, he's guarding the lair when I'm not home." Eggman went back to typing on his computer.

"I want to talk to you about Sheptilah. Are you familiar with The Last Unicorn?" Shadow lowered his voice.

"The book or the movie?"

"Doesn't really matter."

"I've read the book when I was a kid." Ivo sent the files from the lunar core off to Hope. "Cover to cover many times. It was absolutely worn to pieces. What's it matter?"

"Sheptilah, like the unicorn, are both the last of their race. She even has the same white hair and violet eyes. It's striking, really. I must ask you, Doctor, are you King Haggard or Prince Lír?" Shadow's ruby eyes were sharp as daggers.

Eggman leaned back in his chair and smirked. "Shadow, does that make you Shmendrick?"

A sleek insult. A magician not very good at his craft, much like Shadow who himself was not good with magic; a criticism that did not fly over the hedgehog's head.

"Think about it. You have pretty much trapped her in a castle that overlooks the sea. Are you Haggard or Lír? What is your role in her life?"

Silence from the Overlander.

"What I'm asking is do you _actually_ care for her or are you simply keeping her around because it makes you happy? Will you let her go if she needs to go or will you force her to stay? Will you prevent her from fighting the wiccaphages if it means she will die or will you fight at her side?

"I ask again, Doctor, are you Lír or Haggard?"

"Foolish hedgehog," Ivo stood, "You can't put real life into simple storybook allegories. I am neither Lír or Haggard; I am Ivo Eggman. Just like you are Shadow The Hedgehog and nothing else. We make our own stories with our own endings. Our lives are _not_ a fable some exhausted weirdo is writing at their desk in the middle of the night pondering what the next twist is going to be.

"And for your information, I _will_ fight at her side. Come Hell or high water, we will do this as a team. You, me and the witch; and we will be _victorious_."

"Sonic talked to you, didn't he?" Shadow let his arms drop and he lifted himself from the wall, a sly smile forming across his face. "You are right, though. I just wonder what your intentions are with my witch."

"Miss Banana is my friend and my lover; but what happens next I do not know. My only intentions are to go day by day and finish the Syzygy Cannon. After that we will see." Eggman smiled sincerely, "Why? Do you think I'm going to break her heart?"

Shadow shrugged. "She's my sister and you are a known crazed tyrant; I have my concerns." A pause, and then: "What is the Syzygy Cannon?"

Before Eggman could answer, Sheptilah appeared wearing the clothes he had set out for her. A tight, black thigh-length skirt, black pumps, white blouse and black blazer made her look sharp. Her blouse was three buttons open so that her Oracle Stone was not covered.

"Why do I feel like I should be tending to customers on an airplane?" She laughed. "I'm not so sure about the shoes but I like the jacket."

"Shorten your hair a little," Eggman suggested, "It may get caught on things."

"Oh, right." Tilly applied a glamour to make her hair a shoulder-length bob with a blunt fringe. "How about now?"

"It's very cute." Shadow said.

"So are we ready to go?" Eggman straightened his clothes.

"I would say so," Sheptilah beamed, "I'm excited to find out what scientists think is true about my people. I'm sure it's going to be hilariously inaccurate."


	54. Walk Like An Egyptian

Warping to the city was tricky; a metropolis such as New York required teleporting to a location with open but somewhat unpopulated spaces like Central Park or the helicopter pad of a skyscraper, but each had its own risks.

There was always the possibility of warping inside of something or someone which would result in death for both parties. Then there was the risk of warping just a few feet away from the edge of a tall building resulting in plummeting to your death.

However they arrived safely outside of the museum on the steps. A beautiful sunny morning peaked through the skyscrapers surrounding Central Park's relatively flat landscape.

Sheptilah marveled at the buildings, noting they were like giant bricks stood on end.

"Some are taller than the ziggurat but certainly much slimmer!" She remarked. "What keeps them from falling over?"

"There's underground parts to the structure that keep it rooted in place." Eggman said. "We got a few hours before the presentation starts. Let's get Shadow a ticket and peruse the museum."

Her staff was glamoured into the shape of a simple water bottle so that she would not be stopped by security.

They started chronologically, which meant bouncing around the museum. Soon they came to the Egyptian mummies on display under glass cases.

Sheptilah looked down at the sarcophagi with disdain, her lip curled into a slight snarl. "These shouldn't be on display."

"Why not?" Eggman asked innocently. He leaned on the glass a bit but when he noticed Sheptilah's glare he stood straight up.

"Burials are sacred and everything here should be returned to where it came from. Is everything here stolen?" She turned her head briskly, bobbed hair hitting her face.

"Honestly? Most of the objects in this section have been taken," Shadow shrugged, "The only difference between grave robbing and archeology is the amount of time that passes and whether it's funded or not."

"Pretty much." Ivo chuckled. "Don't worry about it, Tilly. If the spirit is angry they will make it known. They have before; King Tut was certainly pissed about being unearthed. Almost everyone involved in that expedition died in very weird ways."

"I suppose." Tilly frowned. "Ivo, what would you have done if you found me in the crystal but I wasn't released from it?"

"Hmm," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Honestly? I probably would've tried to get you out with brute force or hook you up to something to use as a form of power generation."

"I'm imagining you trying to get her out with a hammer and chisel," Shadow gestured like he was chipping away at something, "Slowly and painfully."

Sheptilah smiled uneasily.

"I would use a jackhammer; you know this." Ivo joked, "Or if I couldn't get her out I'd use her as a lawn sculpture."

The witch frowned.

Ivo noticed, or maybe felt, the melancholy and cleared his throat. "Sheptilah… we've learned a lot by studying the mummies obtained from their tombs. Even the discovery of the Rosetta stone helped scientists and archaeologists learn the dead languages and all about the vibrant cultures long gone. We learned that they had keys for locks, complex surgeries and invented the sundial."

"Somebody loved these people enough to preserve their remains and bury them with everything they thought they'd need in the next life." Shadow pointed to the fragile-looking chair and bed also on display, "Unearthing these things and removing them from the burial site would make it harder for that person to enjoy their afterlife, right?"

"You can't take it with you," Sheptilah muttered, "But yes, it's a matter of respect."

"I promise I wouldn't actually put you on my lawn… I was joking." Ivo rubbed her shoulder gently.

"Let's move on," she rolled her shoulder to knock his hand off, "I want to see the Kemetic Books of the Dead they have on display."

* * *

Abdullah Moers stood proudly at the podium, the only expert in his field. Eggman, Shadow and Sheptilah sat in the darkened auditorium eager to see what he'd get right and get wrong.

Moers himself was a very old man, freckles scattered across his brown skin and his hair white as snow. His voice was deep and melodic, his accent a pleasure to listen to.

"Everything we know about the Nannae is second-hand, seeing as they disappeared suddenly about five thousand years prior." On the screen was an illustration of the ziggurat ruins next to an artist's depiction of what it may have looked like: the hanging gardens of Babylon.

"The people were racially diverse Mobians and Overlanders. What unified them was a round gemstone affixed to the chest passed down from parent to child. It is rumored there was crossbreeding between Overlanders and Mobians but there are no definitive records proving or disproving this theory."

The audience murmured a bit at this taboo revelation. Moers waited patiently for them to focus their attention back on him before continuing.

"It's unknown if the Nannae had carved the stones themselves or were born with them. All we do know for sure is that they were fiercely protective of them and it may have been a status symbol."

He pressed a button on his remote to bring up a photo of the ziggurat taken in 1932.

"It's said they disappeared after a bright white beam came from the ziggurat, pictured here. They all vanished at once as if they all ascended without true death. According to some papyrus scrolls recently translated an Egyptian pharaoh known as Zoser of the third dynasty became deathly ill he had sent some militia to go and collect a Nannae witch to heal him. They finally arrived only to find the ziggurat totally abandoned with no bodies present, half-dead farm animals wandering about and crops ruined from going unwatered."

Sheptilah exhaled slowly and silently. She barely remembered that day in complete moments; everything she could recall was in the form of snapshots and concepts like pools of blood and dead familiars. They certainly would have left corpses behind and didn't just vanish; it's just that the final battle was away from the ziggurat so as to protect the royal grimoire.

Moers droned on about the ancient people, constantly reminding the listeners that the information was all hearsay and the cuneiform tablets in Nannaeic have not yet been deciphered. When he flashed an image of one of the tablets Sheptilah had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing.

The tablet itself was akin to a modern sext and was certainly not something you would show in mixed company. The next photo was that of a bronze cylinder that was intended to be rolled across wet clay bricks before firing so that a prayer could be perfectly embossed infinitely.

The concept was to build a home with that prayer brick in the foundation to bless the building.

The last and most interesting tablet was a fragment of a larger one detailing a lovely list of one merchant's boasting of his corn crop and how it was better than his neighbor's.

I told you my shit would fertilize better than your shit! It read in bold print.

"Their familiars were somewhat like slaves according to the ancient Chu Nan perspective. One scribe from Dongxiang, Gansu is recorded as saying the following;" He brought up the next slide showing a very worn out piece of scroll with an English translation under the text.

 _It is barbaric to share your energy like so and one's magic should be one's own. The Nannay (sic) seem to find comfort in this but it is truly grotesque to abuse this bond for anything other than helping your cosmic sibling. It is theft at its core._

After the two hours long presentation Moers met with some of the academics in the audience. Sheptilah herself was tempted to meet with him and correct the misinformation but decided against it.

"Maybe another time," she told Shadow, "I'll never be able to leave if he gets a hold of me."

"We should contact him later and find out more about the white light he described," Eggman nodded to himself. "I want to know more about your magic staff."

"I'm pretty sure all he knows about the weapon can fit in a pistachio nutshell," she shook the water bottle, "A very small one."

* * *

Eggman Nega had blueprints of the Dubai Jewel Museum spread out on a table. Scourge sat with his feet up on top of the prints and arms crossed.

"I don't need any damned instructions. I know how to do this stuff." He spat through sharp teeth.

Nega knocked Scourge's feet off the table and glared at the defiant green hedgehog. "I know most of what is going to happen, seeing as how I am from two hundred years into the future. You need to pay attention to the plan so you can get in and out without being spotted."

High heels clicked from down the hallway. Katella entered the room beside the white MARI with a cup of coffee in hand.

"Hey, babe." Scourge smiled.

"Don't call me pet names, you Ogórki-looking jackass." Katella sipped her drink. "So we get the last three Chaos Emeralds and then what? Capture the witch?"

"More or less," Nega stroked his mustache, "Hee hee hee! We only have three Emeralds left and because I know exactly where the last three are because, again, I am from the future, so stick to the plans I laid out so you three avoid gaining attention."

"I live for attention," Scourge yawned widely, "But I know how to be sneaky, too. Have some faith."

"We have faith that you will be a liability." The white MARI spoke monotone.

"Which is why you're going to Madagascar to pick up the easiest to locate Emerald." Nega smiled.

"Ain't they got roaches as big as me?" The green hedgehog scoffed.

"Yes." Katella rolled her eyes.

"Cool, maybe I'll take one home as a pet. Name it Romeo and give him a matching jacket." Scourge smirked.

"Do not bring back insects. Only the Chaos Emerald." The white MARI beeped.

"Katella, you are in charge of retrieving the Emerald from Dubai. Do not take anything else and leave the fake behind." Nega showed her the blueprints.

"Aw, no goodies for me?" She pouted cutely.

"You'll have lots of _goodies_ once we have the witch and the Emeralds." He grinned. "MARI will stay with me as I retrieve the last one. When you are geared up my transporters below deck will warp you close to your destinations."

* * *

"Can I _please_ get some decent help around here?!" Thunderbolt jumped up and down on the table. "Lord Eggman's favorite color is yellow! Do these balloons look yellow to you?!" She pointed to them. "I want jonquil! You've presented me with chartreuse! It's too green!"

The chinchilla fumed. Her Mobian underlings were shaking and profusely sweating under their helmets, grateful she couldn't see their terrified faces.

"Yes, ma'am!" A pink cobra saluted and ran off with the other two, a dog and a cat.

"And bring me gold paper!" She howled. Thunderbolt jumped off the table and called for the chef to make sure the feast would be perfect.

"Yes, ma'am! The cake is six feet tall and each layer is a different flavor Lord Eggman loves!" The rabbit Mobian stood straight up. "I've prepared four kinds of meat dishes to start and made sure there were no vegetables, just like you requested."

"And no fruit, either! Nothing that isn't soaked in meat juices!" Thunderbolt grinned, flashing her sharp teeth. "I want the witch to starve."

"What witch?" The chef asked.

"Exactly!" Thunderbolt's tail stood straight up. "And eggs! _Lots_ of eggs! Devilled, scrambled, over-easy! Everything! I want an egg buffet!"

"Yes, ma'am!" The rabbit saluted. "I'll get the chef bots to work on it immediately."

* * *

"I'm very fond of rococo," Sheptilah stared longingly at the paintings, "Everything is so lush and bright. Looks soft enough to touch. It seems people also had a lot of pet dogs. Our style of painting was ugly."

"No wonder you had no idea what you looked like until recently..." Eggman teased.

"You saw those wacky Mesopotamian sculptures with the giant eyeballs! That's basically what our art looked like, too!" Sheptilah shuddered. "Ooh, the stuff of nightmares."

"I wonder how much this museum has gotten wrong in their translations and studies," Shadow mused, looking over the fine details of the paintings. "Given how Moers was off about your culture."

"Modern anthropologists get still-living cultures wrong," Eggman shrugged. "Hell, if the Rosetta Stone wasn't a thing where would we be? Thank goodness that thousands of years ago some guy went _I'm gonna write the same edict in our two common languages and three different alphabets._ "

"So most of the ancient knowledge in this museum is based on luck," the woman smirked, "Almost as if destiny mote it be. I'd love to see this stone in person."

"It's in Britain," the hedgehog ran his fingers through his spikes, "But Egypt wants it back."

"I'd give it back." Tilly shrugged. "Speaking of, we should probably head back to Seaside. I have a present for you, Shadow."

"Oh boy," he raised an eyebrow, "I hope it's not a sweater that matches the Merry Grumpmas one Rouge got me. It's so itchy."

"It's nothing of the sort." She smiled.

"I actually have something for you, too, but I had no chance to wrap it or make it presentable as I lost track of time." Eggman rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Why would you give me anything?" Shadow sneered a bit at the Overlander.

Sheptilah turned to Eggman knowingly and then back to Shadow.

"Why is it that every time I try to do something nice you damned furries have to be all suspicious?" He furrowed his brow then promptly shot it up. "Don't answer that."

"It's because you're family, Shadow." The woman nodded, white hair swishing against her chin with the motion. " _Ur-um. Familia._ The universe deemed it so."

"I'm going to remain skeptical." Shadow sagely replied.

"Whatever you need to do to feel macho." Ivo huffed.


	55. It's My Party And I'll Cry If I Want To

_**This chapter contains violence.**_

* * *

Back at his lair Eggman presented Shadow with a digital music player loaded up with songs personally selected by MARI. It contained many rare recordings recently digitized from thousands of various vinyls she ordered off of the internet, much to Eggman's chagrin.

The Andrews Sisters, The Crystals, The Ink Spots and even Benny Goodman were all included. Most of this _was_ music Shadow listened to growing up on the ARK, but to spice it up there was a decent amount of relatively new music MARI hoped he would like.

"It's funny," he held the small device in his gloved hand, using his thumb to scroll through the files, "Team Dark got me music, too. This is really thoughtful, Eggman, but I will be sending this to GUN to check for any subliminal messages buried in it."

"I expect nothing less." The Overlander grumbled.

"Shadow." Tilly pulled something from the back of her head. It looked like she took a chunk of her own hair but it was a small skein of silvery twine.

"Tie one end around something you don't want to lose and tie the other end around your wrist so you can always find it. This thread will stretch infinitely and will turn intangible and invisible once attached, but will become visible again when you are looking for your lost item."

He looked over the thread in one hand and the music player in the other: loss and gain.

"Thank you." Shadow blinked. "It's been a nice, quiet birthday."

"Hopefully _my_ birthday is just as quiet… but I know it won't be." Eggman sulked. Thunderbolt was sure to hop out of the cake wearing nothing but frosting.

"I'm going home," Shadow nodded, "Thank you, again." He said to his witch before teleporting to the GUN fortress.

"You know, Ivo, I didn't get _you_ anything for your birthday." She admitted after a moment of silence.

"As far as I'm concerned having the orb is enough." He patted the top of her head playfully.

She groaned a bit but then relaxed her shoulders. "So... Thunderbolt doesn't know about us yet, does she?"

"Well, you haven't been killed so no."

"Will you tell her tomorrow?" Tilly swayed back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"No, I'm not going to tell her. We'll just act like we're not together; I honestly do not need the stress of her going bonkers." His chest felt heavy, like his heart was replaced with a boulder. Was that guilt he felt or exhaustion? He couldn't differentiate.

"Well, I'm going to go take a shower. I have some stuff to do before we leave for Thunderbolt's base tomorrow." She kissed his cheek and walked to the door.

"I'll design you a new uniform while you're doing that." He brought up some files on his gauntlet.

"Don't procrastinate on your Sizzler Cannon or whatever it is called!" She yelled from the hallway.

He groaned with frustration.

* * *

"Here's your Emerald." Katella dropped the yellow gem onto Nega's desk. Nega's office aboard the ship was massive and covered wall-to-wall with highly advanced computer screens from the future. Everything was controlled from the desk which in itself was a giant keyboard.

The office chair swivelled around to show Scourge was sitting in it holding the other Emerald.

"I'm faster than _you_ , toots." He smirked, putting his feet on the desk.

"You are a rude child. Where is Nega?" Katella tapped her foot impatiently.

"I think he's still out getting the last Emerald," Scourge balanced the red gem on the tip of his finger. "Relax, babe, and I'm no child."

"You're what, fifteen? That's a child."

"To _you_ , maybe."

"It seems you both beat me back to my own ship." Nega's silhouette darkened the door to his office. MARI glowed behind him, holding the blue Emerald.

"Oh," Katella smirked, "Welcome back."

"Get _out_ of my chair." Nega hissed at Scourge.

The green hedgehog flashed his sharp teeth in a snarl before slowly getting up and moving to be next to Katella. "When do we get to the _fun_ part, Neggy-Weggy?" He teased.

MARI collected the other gems and held them in her arms. Nega sat down after checking for spikes in his seat, happy to see Scourge left none. MARI seemed to be preoccupied with something, simply staring off into space.

"First, we have to collect the witch. After that, we can negotiate for the other Emeralds." Nega brought up a graphic illustrating this plan. "I also want to perform my own experiments on her. As you both know I am from two centuries ahead of this one, so any files on the witch have been mostly lost to time and her grimoires still remain mostly untranslated."

"Why do you want to bother with her?" Scourge shrugged. "Sounds like there's more to the story than just you getting your hands on the Emeralds for their power."

"Don't worry yourself about it. I promised Katella that the witch would be delivered to her alive and I promised _you_ Shadow would suffer. You will both get what you desire in a few days."

"Are you from the future too, babe?" Scourge looked up at Katella who was visibly still trying to size up Nega.

"No, I'm from another _planet_ ," she shot a sideways glance at the green being, "I collect rare animals and sell them to intergalactic zoos and private collectors. What about you, you little booger?"

"I'm from another dimension's version of this planet called Moebius," he smugly propped up the collar of his jacket, "Of which I _was_ the king. When I return with Shadow's head on a pike I will be reinstated. I may even shoot for Sonic's bitch face, too."

"So is there a Moebius version of me and the witch?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but Zheptilah was killed a long time ago. In my dimension she was a legendary berserker that of which only the gods themselves could contain. Thousands of years ago some lucky fucker managed to snipe her with a bow and arrow." Scourge gestured like he released an arrow, "Or so the legend goes. Ain't no more like her, though. Genocide saw to that. As far as you, toots? I have no idea."

"Nega," Katella turned to him, "Are the wiccaphages defeated in your future? Not that it seems to _matter_ as you can clearly travel through time and to other dimensions."

"Yes," he brought up some old documentation about it, "What happened to the witch and Shadow after _that_ remains a mystery. What little I do know of her is what my idiot ancestor managed to write down, but those files are corrupted from age. GUN did a very good job covering everything up after the fact."

"So what do these experiments on the witch entail, exactly? Going to go Doctor Moreau on us?" Scourge grinned eagerly. "And can I help?"

"Again, don't worry about it." Nega's lip curled with disgust. "I seek to harness some _information_ from her."

"You aren't going to actually _hurt_ Ivo, are you?" Katella put her hands on her hips and leered at Nega. "The man's mine!"

"I can't kill the bastard because if I did then _I_ wouldn't exist. Why do you care, anyway? He's a total loser! I can't get anything done in my time because of his legacy of failure!" Nega's face became red with rage. "All of my achievements amount to nothing because of him and his shortcomings!" He slammed his fist on his desk so hard it cracked.

MARI flinched ever so slightly, but continued to look straight ahead.

Nega groaned at the sparking desk screen. "Bah!" One by one each screen behind him shut off in a cascade from the damage.

"A fallen king, a future genius and a bounty hunter." Katella summed it up, crossing her arms. "Strange bedfellows." She smirked at Nega. "You, however, are very interesting."

"Sir?" The white MARI spoke tentatively. "The computers at Eggman's Lair show they have left for his birthday party at Thunderbolt's Soumercian base. The timeline is completely in order as you predicted, sir."

"Good." Nega stood. "Put the Emeralds in the safe and then fix my desk."

"Yes, sir." The robot responded.

"You two," he pointed at Scourge and Katella, "Come with me. I'll show you how to catch a witch."

* * *

The night sky was littered with bright stars and familiar constellations. Each individual twinkle sparkled like glitter spread on velvet.

All was calm on the flight as Orbot, Cubot and Metal Sonic were all in the cargo hold in sleep mode.

"Why do you ask permission to orgasm?" Eggman suddenly blurted out. The flight to Soumerca was very quiet up until then.

Sheptilah nearly choked from surprise. "Old habit!" She coughed. "Succubi live off of that energy so you should ask them if they're ready to get it."

"Huh." He adjusted something on the dashboard and continued to steer the aircraft. "So sort of like when a meal isn't done cooking and you take it out of the oven too soon?"

"Kind of?" Sheptilah raised an eyebrow. Her cheeks reddened and she turned away. "Anyway, I guess I don't need to ask."

"Nope, if it happens it happens." He grinned. "It's kind of cute, though."

Sheptilah sunk down in her seat more embarrassed than ever. She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks.

"Why are you so weird about this subject?" He frowned. "I thought your culture was open about it."

"As a whole, yes my culture was open and cool with it. As an individual I have a very dodgy experience with it. You are literally the only human I've ever been with and only the second person. There's a reason it took _syzygy_ exposure before I admitted I wanted to have sex with you."

"Are you… okay?"

She sat up and lowered her arms. "It's complicated. You would think being a queen is like, all fun and games. Basically my value always came down to my powers and my body. I wasn't worth anything to anyone otherwise. I wasn't respected or wanted because my familiar was mixed. Many suitors of different sexes and races, some Mobian, too, came to win my favor as a marriageable woman."

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Even when I was a baby people tried to arrange a marriage, or so I'm told. Didn't matter anyway as arranged marriages were _always_ illegal within the kingdom. Virginity wasn't prized above all like it was in a lot of places in that century. Even so, I didn't have my first sexual experience until I was about," she paused to count on her fingers, "Twenty five years old. I hired a succubus; the one I fell in love with, if you remember."

"Didn't that succubus love you back?" He turned his head slightly toward her.

"No, not really. Predators never love their prey. I was just food for her, really. That's how it is with all sex demons. It's not their fault, they are capable of love, I suppose, but in the end it's hard to tell if they love you as a person or as a meal ticket." Sheptilah braided her hair absentmindedly.

An awkward moment of silence passed.

"I guess you and I have a lot in common. When I was nineteen I hired a sex worker. I was in college and I hadn't even been kissed yet and I was still bitter over Lucinda. I thought I'd take a chance on moving on but I guess nobody wanted to date me. I think it's because I didn't grow a mustache yet," he grinned playfully.

"Anyway, the woman I hired, after hours of fumbling with trying to dial the number in the first place, was nice but I was unimpressed with everything involved in it. It's not that she was bad or anything like that, of course. It's her job, after all, to be 'good' at it. I was just there the whole time thinking ' _I've had more thrills taking apart microwaves._ '"

Sheptilah smiled a little.

"The years went by and I never got past a few first dates with anyone until Katella came along." His expression became stoic. "No matter what century you're in sex is _always_ complicated."

"It doesn't feel complicated when I'm with you," she admitted.

"I feel the same way."

"That makes me happy to hear." Her smile widened.

"Uh, I do have one question, if I may," he cleared his throat, "Shadow doesn't _feel_ any of that, does he?"

"Nope, not one bit. I mean, he can probably sense that I'm _happy_ but that's about it." She shrugged. "So you don't have to worry about him."

"Thank God." His shoulders dropped. "I had that on the back of my mind for weeks now."

"Hey, sir?" MARI chirped. "I'm sorry to interrupt while you're having this sweet moment with your girlfriend but… something weird is going on. I think my memory is frazzled."

"How so?" He responded.

"Well, it seems I've been accessing things but I have no memory of it. Nothing's been taken but I literally checked over my logs and I did not perform those actions, but it says I did on the Egg Net." MARI flashed a question mark emoji.

"That's odd," he tapped his chin, "Hm, I hope nothing is wrong with your tower."

"That's just it! Everything checks out fine. All of my diagnostics show everything is working as it should."

"What files were accessed?"

"From what I see it looks like I, in a fit of amnesia, accessed some of your old diary entries. Stuff from years ago that I wouldn't even _want_ to go over. Some of the access logs show I looked at the new ones, but that's normal as I'm always updating the Nannaeic language dictionary." She showed an emoji of a magnifying glass.

"Lock down all of my data, MARI." Eggman commanded.

"Done and done, sir." MARI chirped.

"Oh, hey, we're here!" He pointed to the base before them. It was a massive structure that did a poor job of blending into the surrounding jungle. After a number of years the trees would hide it much better but for now it was an eyesore.

"Great," she frowned, "Time to suffer."

"It won't be that bad, but we should probably sleep in different rooms to keep Thunderbolt from killing us all." He frowned.

"Like I said, time to suffer." Sheptilah grabbed her staff and got ready to endure an uncomfortable weekend.

Thunderbolt cheerfully escorted in Eggman and his robots but ignored Sheptilah. "Did you have a good flight?"

"Yes." Eggman motioned for Sheptilah to come to his side. Orbot and Cubot were carrying bags while Metal simply followed and observed. Sheptilah sheepishly shuffled up to Eggman's side, holding onto her staff so tightly her knuckles were white.

"Where are the other Bosses?" Eggman stooped down a bit.

"Everyone's already here, your magnificent-ness." Thunderbolt's ears stood straight up.

"So let's start the party early, then!" He grinned like a cat. "We can stay up all night celebrating _me!_ "

"Yeah, let's do it!" Thunderbolt sparked. "I just hope the chef isn't slacking off again!"

The chinchilla led them to a massive mess hall-type room full of balloons, posters of Eggman and MARI setting up a DJ table. One of her doll bodies was teleported to the jungle base two days ago just to be the spin jockey at Eggman's birthday as a surprise.

Mordred was playing cards with Nephthys at a table, both appeared incredibly bored. Cassia and Clove were picking through the vinyls MARI had brought while the other Bosses were chatting together.

"Happy birthday!" MARI called, waving.

This got everyone's attention. They all turned to the doorway and pretended to be enthusiastic.

"Happy birthday, Lord Eggman!" Mordred hissed, trying to smile.

"Hey! Where's the goddamned chef!?" Thunderbolt stomped her foot. "Such incompetence!" She stormed off to go find him so the buffet could be fully set up.

Eggman looked over his shoulder to make sure Thunderbolt was out of earshot. "She still doesn't know I'm _dating_ her, right?" He pointed to Tilly whose face reddened from being caught off-guard.

"Hand it over." Tundra held out his hand and curled his fingers expectantly.

"Oh, fine, you frozen fur-covered asshole," Akhlut handed him a crisp twenty dollar bill, "You called it."

"I don't get why her face is red." Cassia whispered to Clove.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Clove whispered back.

"Hush!" Nepthys shook her head at them. "It's not our place to discuss business that doesn't involve us, sir."

"Ah, good; keep it that way." He brought a finger up to his lips to figuratively shush them, "It may be an open secret but still; I demand discretion."

" _Discretion_ my digital ass," MARI waved him off, "I have heard things. _Unholy_ things! You wouldn't believe-"

"MARI!" Eggman raised a fist. "I will have you turned into a soup can!"

Sheptilah wished she could just die then and there.

"Food's on the way! I ordered fifty pizzas!" Thunderbolt came in with her fur all standing on end from agitation. "Because our chef is a _lazy jerk!_ "

"T.B., don't drain your batteries." Eggman bent down and patted her on the top of her head. "Let's be fair: I arrived early."

The chinchilla instantly melted under his touch and calmed down. "Y-yes, sir!" She looked up at the witch, "What's wrong with you? You look like a tomato."

"Uh," Tilly hesitated, "Allergic reaction to the pollen in the jungle?" She quickly lied.

"Try not to die while you're here." The chinchilla narrowed her eyes at the witch.

Thunderbolt _conveniently_ forgot to order pizza without some kind of meat on it, leaving Sheptilah to eat nothing.

* * *

Scourge stood at the gate in a windbreaker that read ROCKET PIZZA in big letters. The _real_ delivery boy was knocked out and disposed of elsewhere. Scourge pulled down the matching ball cap to better hide his identity.

"Pizza's here!" He shouted. "Hey!" He struggled to balance the tower of pizzas boxed in his arms.

Thunderbolt opened the massive doors to let the hedgehog in with the food, but wouldn't let him past the foyer. Orbot and Cubot appeared to help carry in the boxes, but didn't recognize Scourge for who he was.

The hedgehog held out his hand and cleared his throat, expecting a tip.

"Get out!" Thunderbolt shocked the supposed delivery boy and then kicked him out, slamming the door in his face.

"Yeowch!" The green hedgehog howled and fell over, unable to move.

White MARI jumped down from the cloaked airship and stepped over Scourge's smoldering body without sympathy. "Useless. Looks like I have to do all the work." She walked over to the gate and, using her access privileges, opened the door just wide enough for Scourge to shuffle in.

The feisty hedgehog sat up and shook himself off. He then threw off the windbreaker so that he was only wearing his favorite leather jacket. "Don't be such a bitch," he spat at her.

"I have authorization to kill you if failure arises." The white MARI's free hand became a small but powerful raygun. The high-pitched whine of it charging hurt Scourge's ears and he could feel the heat of the generator burning his face.

"Do not fail and do not get caught. Remember the plan."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off, hoping she didn't pick up on his slight anxieties. He put his communicator in his ear and went inside. MARI closed the door behind him and contacted Nega.

"Everything is going as expected, sir."

Scourge immediately scurried into a nearby air vent and followed his nose to a dorm for one of the low-end recruits that nobody would miss.

He heard the sound of someone snoring quite loudly and followed it, cursing under his breath about scuffing his favorite jacket. He came up to the vent and peered into the tiny dorm which contained only a bed and a dresser. He saw that sleeping in the bed was an orange rat Mobian, drool-covered tongue hanging out of his mouth.

The air vent grate opened from the inside as well as the outside, a feature brought on by the paranoid Thunderbolt's earlier experience when the wiccaphage attacked. Scourge silently lifted it open and climbed down, landing softly.

He looked in the drawers to get a uniform to wear. He grabbed a set and closed the drawers. Some object shifted inside it and rattled. The sleeping recruit rolled over to see there was an intruder in his dorm.

"Ah, _shit_." Scourge groaned. Before the rat Mobian could react, the green hedgehog jumped him and crushed his windpipe with his hands. As the unnamed recruit struggled to breathe he kicked his legs fruitlessly, dragging up the blankets and sheets. He scratched at the hedgehog's arms with his nails but the leather jacket protected him from harm.

"This always takes too fucking long," Scourge huffed, "Normally I find this kind of thing fun but I'm on a fucking time limit here." He squeezed tighter until the rat began to lose consciousness, each choked breath becoming more and more labored.

When satisfied with the recruit's body going limp, Scourge took the switchblade out of his pocket and opened it with one hand but kept a grip on the rat's throat with the other. The recruit's eyes grew wide, knowing what was coming but unable to stop it. He shut his eyes for the final time as he fainted from suffocation.

The hedgehog picked up a pillow and held it in front of his body and with his other hand took the blade and, in one smooth motion, dragged it across the recruit's throat. Blood spurted from the jugular at a uniform speed but a slowing pressure; the pillow acting as a barrier between the dying rat and the hedgehog.

"As you can tell, I've done this before. Getting blood out of my jacket kinda sucks." He grinned, sharp teeth shining in the dim light. He spoke with a tone like that of a professor lecturing to a class.

The weak death rattles that escaped the recruit were whimpers of a life coming to an end. When each pathetic, moist throat crackle stopped, Scourge knew it was safe to leave the room.

He looked down and saw the tips of his shoes were in the puddle of blood that pooled on the floor.

"My fuckin' boots." he hissed. " _Asshole_."

* * *

"Pepperoni, scrambled eggs, ham and onions!" Eggman was gleefully taking greedy bites. "My favorite!"

MARI was playing some more tame party music before she broke out the good stuff since the party was only beginning. She watched them eat with envy, wishing she too could taste pizza and judge for herself how bad pineapple on pepperoni was.

"Blech," Tilly stuck out her tongue, "It smells weird."

By now other Egg Army recruits were in the mess hall with the Bosses, enjoying the music.

Metal Sonic inched ever closer to MARI's deck.

"Don't you even _think_ about it!" She shouted at her robot brother.

Metal took strides to get to the head of the room so he could better supervise the party and had no intention of interfering with MARI's little hobby.

 _You are a useless, glorified MP3 player_ , he said to her wirelessly, _I have an actual job to do._

 _Oh, shut up! At least I'm an original model,_ she broadcasted back to him. To everyone around them it appeared the robots were only looking at each other.

 _I'm also equipped with enough weapons to protect our father,_ she added, _so don't even start!_

 _I was created first,_ Metal added. _My prerogative is to eradicate Sonic and protect Doctor Eggman. Your sole prerogative is to play music._

The two robots glared at each other, telepathically arguing entire essays in nanoseconds.

"Your kids are fighting, I think." Tilly pointed to the two up by the deck.

"They do that." Eggman said with his mouth full. "I'd be more concerned if they _didn't_ argue."

"What could they even be talking about?" Tilly bit her nail absentmindedly.

"MARI doesn't like anyone up at her decks and Metal wants to get to the highest point of the room as a security measure so it's probably about that."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Clove approached the couple, "But I would like to talk with our Mistress."

"Who?" A bit of melted cheese hung from Eggman's lip.

"She means me." Sheptilah rolled her eyes. "Yes, what can I do for you, Clove?"

"May we speak privately? It's… _women_ stuff." Clove lied.

Eggman knew full well what the conversation was going to be about but allowed it anyway. Clove led Sheptilah out of the room and waited out in the quieter hallway.

"Is this about Cassia?" The witch looked at the pronghorn expectantly.

"Yes; can you save her?"

"I am not sure," Tilly looked at her sandals, "I'm told that if the cybernetics were removed she'd die near immediately and I can't heal her with the cybernetics in place." She crouched so that she was eye-level with the Mobian.

"However…"

"Yes?" Clove leaned in, heart racing.

"If we removed a small part of the cybernetics we could potentially just inject my blood directly into her… but I worry about how the magic would react to the iron. I am afraid it may react badly and hurt her worse."

"Your blood…?" Clove's stomach churned.

"It's my body fluids that do most of the healing," she confided, "But sometimes for superficial wounds I don't need to do anything dramatic. If Cassia's eyes are robotic that means her eyeballs are no longer there, right?"

"Right." Clove confirmed.

"Hmm." Tilly's face wrinkled with doubt. "I'll consult my grimoires. Shadow may be able to do something to help your sister. His magic is different from mine."

"He has _magic?_ "

"Yes, everyone has magic. Even you!" The witch grinned for a moment, then frowned. "I'll talk to Ivo, too."

"Are you _really_ dating him?" Clove raised an eyebrow, her mouth turned up in a sideways smile.

"Unfortunately, yes. And I am very stupid for it." She chuckled. "He's working on something to disable the injections." She tapped her temple with a finger. "So he will be keeping his promise to you all, I'm going to see to that personally."

"Thank you." The pronghorn swallowed her anxiety.

Scourge walked up wearing the recruit's open uniform jacket over his leather one. He kept his eyes cast downward, face shielded by the uniform hat. Sheptilah's eyes followed the boots up neon green legs to those icy blue eyes. She could feel _something_ was off about him.

"Who hurt you?" Sheptilah looked at the two deep scars on his torso. "Did Eggman do that to you? Did he hurt you like that?"

"Nah, not him. Doctor Eggman has asked for me to take you to your quarters. Apparently he has something special planned for you but hasn't told me what. Some kind of _surprise_." The hedgehog shrugged.

Tilly stood and turned to Clove whose face was painted with deep concern. She nodded to the pronghorn that it was okay. "I'll meet up with you to finish talking about this. Perhaps you should get Cassia, too. I want to know how she feels about this and what she wants to do."

"This way." Scourge gestured for Sheptilah to follow him with his hand.

She followed him down the deserted hallway. After a moment he pulled a large hand mirror out of his spikes and held it up to Sheptilah's face. She immediately scryed captively. Scourge took some steps back and the witch followed, still caught in her own gaze like a fly in a spider's web.

"Too fuckin' easy." He grinned. Since everyone was at the party he did not run into any other infantry and got the witch out the door where the white MARI was waiting.

Katella came up behind the witch and clamped a raw iron collar on Sheptilah's neck. The searing pain snapped her out of the scrying instantly. Her neck erupted in welts and she couldn't breathe. Sheptilah wanted to scream but no words could escape her swollen throat. She tried to pry the collar off but the skin on her fingertips sloughed like wet paper.

Katella gave a thumbs up to seemingly nothing in the sky. A second later they were all beamed up except for the white MARI who stayed behind at the external computer terminal. She hacked into it and triggered a lockdown.

Nega grabbed the witch as she was teleported aboard and ripped her collar off before shoving her into a tiny room where every surface was covered in mirrors. Her body healed itself once free of the iron but she was once again trapped by a simple reflective surface, completely unable to move.

The white MARI beamed aboard not long after that. She returned to her designated station on the ship and fired a scud upon Thunderbolt's base with everyone trapped inside.


	56. Shooting Star

Tails sat on Sonic's sofa under several blankets with his head propped up on soft pillows.

"Chicken noodle soup with ginger flakes for my little brother," Sonic handed Tails a tray with the food on it, "And a delicious, overloaded chili dog for me." Sonic popped the snack into his mouth, smiling contentedly.

Tails gratefully took the tray and gently placed it in his lap. "Thanks, Sonic." The fox's nose was stuffed. "Ugh, I feel miserable." He ate a spoonful of soup, unable to taste it. The warmth of the meal made him feel much better, though.

"You just get nice and comfy," Sonic tucked him in, "And call me if you need anything else."

"Sure thing!" The fox smiled.

Just then a giant fissure in the sky opened up, casting a dark shadow over Sonic's shack. The hedgehog sped to his door to see the breached sky flashing with pink lightning, swirling overhead.

"The Chronophage?!" Sonic took a defensive stance, "Not again…"

Something white and blazing came shooting out of the thundering rip and landed near Sonic's feet.

It was Silver the hedgehog, who crashed head-first into the sand.

A loud, apologetic voice in somewhat of a German accent called after him. "Sorry, Silver!" A shoulder bag came after and landed next to the white hedgehog.

"Von Schlemmer?" Sonic cocked a brow, "What's going on?"

"Von Schlemmer! _Calibrate_ that thing next time!" Silver shouted back at the now shrinking fissure, shaking a fist. "I'm going to be spitting up sand for the next thousand years!"

"What? I can't understand you," Schlemmer pretended, "Okay, bye! I'll come get you later!" The stormy rip in the sky sealed itself up as if it never occurred.

"Blech!" Silver got on all fours and shook all the sand he could out of his spikes.

"You almost collided right into me!" Sonic helped Silver up. "What brings you here, buddy?"

"Sonic!" The white hedgehog's expression brightened. "I'm here for the usual reason: Armageddon."

"Disaster? But my birthday isn't until tomorrow…" Sonic scratched his ear. "What's up?"

"It's the wiccaphages. They've taken over the planet in my time."

"What?!"

"Eggman Nega is here in this time. Professor Von Schlemmer noticed the severe disruption in time not that long ago. Scourge the hedgehog is also missing from the Zone Jail." Silver picked up the backpack and checked its contents, relieved to see everything was there.

"Nega is here? And Scourge? That's not good." Sonic's face became graven. "I gotta call GUN and Eggman."

"I'm in the wrong place," Silver looked around frantically, "I'm supposed to be in Soumerca!"

"You're on an island in the Tropic of Capricorn." Sonic pulled Silver into his house and sat him next to Tails.

"Ah, _you_ were the cause of all the ruckus." Tails sniffled.

Sonic picked up his phone and called Shadow.

"Pick up, pick up…"

"This better be good." Shadow's gruff voice answered. He was just settling down to listen to some of the music he was given when he was disturbed by the call.

"Nega and Scourge are here!"

" _What!?_ "

"And so is Silver!"

"Where are Nega and Scourge now?" Shadow ran to go get Rouge, nearly knocking over some GUN agents walking in the hallway.

"They're in Soumerca!" Silver shouted so Shadow could hear him.

"That's where Sheptilah and Eggman are," Shadow knocked on Rouge's door, "For his birthday party."

"Where's the fire?" Rouge answered the door. "What?"

"Silver arrived from the future to tell us Nega and Scourge are here and they're in Soumerca. They're after the witch."

"Shit." Rouge pulled her boots on as quickly as she could and joined Shadow. The black hedgehog took her arm and used Chaos Control to warp them both to the smoking base.

Shadow landed next to Sheptilah's dropped staff and noticed small chunks of bloody flesh specked on it. His throat immediately began to burn like he inhaled smoke.

"I don't know what happened here but it's not good." He lifted the staff.

The doors slid open and several survivors came running out, coughing heavily. Nephthys carried a hysterical Thunderbolt out in her arms followed by Cassia and Clove. MARI, Orbot, Cubot and Metal came out flanking Eggman.

The Overlander spotted Shadow holding the staff and immediately knew the witch was gone.

"My base! My base is destroyed again!" Thunderbolt shouted in a very whiny tone. "The paint wasn't even dry!"

"Nobody cares about your base!" Nephthys hissed. "There are more pressing matters to attend to!"

"Is anyone hurt?" Rouge called to the group.

"Not really, we were in the basement level so we were a little shaken up but nobody we were with is dead." The vulture dropped Thunderbolt.

Metal Sonic looked up and focused on the area above the base before turning to his master to get his attention.

A small tear opened in the sky, with Sonic and Silver falling through it. MARI simply held out her arms and caught Sonic before he hit the ground. Rouge flew up and grabbed Silver.

"Oof!" Sonic coughed. "Thanks."

"It's my job to catch blue hedgehogs." MARI said flatly.

"We're too late!" Silver cried. "No! I told Schlemmer to double check the hour he sent me back to but apparently there were still bugs to work out." He pulled on the two longer clusters of his spikes that framed his face. "Why am I never on time!?"

"Chill out, Silver," Sonic tried to calm him, "It'll be okay."

"No, it won't!" Silver bit his lip. "Nega is going to do bad things... _very_ bad things."

"Shadow, your neck is bleeding," Eggman unzipped his coat and touched his own neck, pulling away a slimy, bloody glove.

"Your face is rashy." Shadow noted. "Something bad happened with Sheptilah."

"I'm bringing up the surveillance footage now." Orbot projected a hologram. He was able to pinpoint where Scourge led the witch out of the lair with a mirror and showed the images.

"Who is the green guy?" Cubot tilted his head.

"Scourge." Sonic jumped down from MARI's arms. "Me from another dimension. He's everything I'm not. If he's working with Nega that means he was busted out of the inter-dimensional prison."

Shadow's body was shaking and slightly twitching but he felt no pain. "Silver, where are they now?"

"Nega's airship is cloaked; if the timeline is the same he will be messaging Doctor Eggman soon with his ransom demands." Silver pulled a notebook out of the backpack he carried and nodded, confirming his own recollection. "He dropped the bomb on the base."

"So he didn't intend to kill us, just to intimidate." Spots of blood appeared at the tips of Eggman's gloves.

"Looks like it was a small one; maybe a scud." Rouge shook her head. "What do we do now?"

"I'm taking my bosses back to my lair on Bygone Island. Everything's going on lock down immediately. You GUN brats can do whatever you want." Eggman zipped his coat.

"Should you really all be in one place?" Sonic went up to Shadow and inspected his neck. "Seems like a trap."

Shadow side-eyed the blue hedgehog, who promptly backed up.

"He's got a point, boss." Orbot closed the hologram.

"We need to formulate a plan to get Sheptilah back. If Nega is here I'm sure he had something to do with those strange logs of MARI accessing old diary entries. I don't want any communications to be digital; everything's gotta be analog and in-person."

MARI jumped up and down. "I'll summon the jet."

"You'll do no such thing!" Eggman snapped at her. "You're shutting down until further notice. All of you."

"What?" MARI sounded hurt. "I'm currently running in two other places-"

"Off. Now."

"As you wish," MARI's doll bodies all immediately sat down, drawing their knees to their chest and wrapping their arms around their shins. Club goers were extremely confused as to why the music stopped. Scratch and Grounder frantically closed down Stratosphere while repeating that they do not, in fact, give refunds on tickets.

"I can warp us," Silver held up a wrist. He was wearing a gauntlet not unlike Eggman's. "That's how I got Sonic and I here in the first place." Silver tapped a few buttons on his gauntlet and a portal to Bygone Island opened behind him.


	57. Hit Or Miss

_**This chapter contains physical violence, severe psychological trauma and threats of sexual violence.**_

* * *

A deep tub carved from a massive amethyst geode bubbled with hot, oily water. The fragrance of lavender and saffron were almost overpowering. A cute, pale-skinned human massaged a younger Sheptilah's foot tenderly. Hebat sat in a tub next to her but this one was full of heated white sand instead of water.

"It was a good execution," Hebat's tiny pink nose wiggled, "I think you gained the respect of more of the people."

"I am not sure I want the respect of anyone who finds joy in death; even if it is a pedophile's death." She sulked.

"Mistress," the masseuse said timidly, "We're all happy he's dead. We feel much safer. It will get easier."

"We're a race of healers. It feels hypocritical."

"We're also protectors," Hebat sighed contentedly, "Sometimes that means you gotta kill a few people for the greater good."

"Listen to your familiar," the masseuse smiled, "She's right."

"See?" Hebat stuck her tongue out.

The witch sighed, sinking deeper into the tub. The masseuse clicked her tongue and moved over to Sheptilah's face and tapped the surface of the water. She popped her head up and frowned.

"Mistress, let me comb your hair. The Emperor of Chun-nan is coming by tonight, remember? I think he wants to offer you his son in marriage. If you're going to turn him down, you should look your best."

"Wouldn't it be better if I looked awful so he would feel like he dodged an arrow?" Tilly smirked.

"There's an idea." The servant chuckled. She pulled Sheptilah's hair out of the tub by the armful and combed her fingers through the long tresses.

"Mistress, maybe consider a haircut? I'm feeling lazy all of the sudden."

Sheptilah laughed. "When you're done I'll give you that hot stone massage you like, but I'll never cut my hair off. I like how it feels when I'm riding the dunes and it flutters behind me."

"I better work fast, then!" The servant smiled. "I've been dying for a massage!"

"I like hot rocks," Hebat was dozing off, "Hot, _hot_ rocks."

"You're surrounded by billions of them…" Tilly cocked a brow.

"Yes," Hebat adjusted her position, "Yes! Ah, that's the spot."

"Why don't you shapeshift into me and you marry the Emperor's son?" Tilly sat up.

The servant shook her head. "Uh, no thanks. I couldn't hold a glamour that long."

Hebat burst into laughter. "Ti-ti! Your mothers would scold you for saying that!"

"It was worth a shot," Sheptilah shrugged, "Besides, I have _no_ interest in anyone right now. Maybe I never will. I'll establish a democratic republic and people can choose who they want to lead and it rotates every so many seasons."

A pause, and then: "Nah, it'll never work."

* * *

Several days had passed before Sheptilah was roused from unconsciousness. She felt something hit her hip and she sat up with a start. Blinded, she began to panic. Someone had put duct tape over her eyes. When she tried to open them it pulled painfully on her eyelashes. Her sore wrists, ankles and neck were bound by something metallic making sure she could not move. She found that she was bound into an uncomfortable kneeling position. Chains forced her arms down at her side so she could not lift them.

Her arms and legs were sore and her neck still burning but no longer an open wound. Duct tape was wrapped around her throat and wrists to keep the iron shackles from touching her skin directly.

"Ah, you're awake." Scourge stepped around her. She heard the sound of something like a plastic bag crinkling when he moved.

"The young hedgehog," she whispered hoarsely, "It's you."

"The name's Scourge, babe. _King_ Scourge." He had a garbage bag in one hand and a large, dull pair of scissors in the other. "Time for a haircut."

"Your parents named you that?"

"Of course not, you stupid fuck. They named me Sonic. I changed my name to Scourge myself long before I killed them."

"Sonic? Your name was _Sonic?_ "

"Oh, you don't know? I'm from another dimension! This is the prime dimension. We had one of you in my world by the name of Zheptilah. Crazy bitch."

Scourge looked up at the thousands of reflections of himself in the mirrors and then back down at the witch's scalp. "I was just like him, too. Wimpy and cowardly. One day I broke free from that and made myself distinct from my diluted copy."

"So you have my Sonic's speed?" Her mouth was dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

"Everything and more," he smacked her with the scissors, "Stop squirming!"

"S-sorry," she choked, "Where am I?" Breathing felt impossible and her chest was heavy like someone jumped on it.

"Beats the Hell out of me," he dropped the bag onto the floor and grabbed some of her hair. He pulled it taut and placed the blades close to her scalp. The scissors, being so clunky, required several attempts before they would cut through the thick masses Scourge impatiently grabbed.

"We're on some kinda airship or something," he yanked another fistful of her hair. "Snip! This is so much fun!" He dropped the cut tendrils into the garbage bag.

"What do you want with… me?" Having her hair be cut made her feel as powerless literally and figuratively. She knew full well it was steel shears Scourge was wielding and worried her hair may never grow back from that.

"Me? Nothin'; I got no use for you. It's Eggman Nega that is planning some shit. I've seen his operating room. Ooh, it's gonna be fun! For me, I mean, not for you."

"Eggman… Nega?"

"Yeah, some descendant of Eggman's from two hundred years from now."

"Descendant…" The word was sharp and poisonous. The implications were dire.

"That's right, babe," by now half of Sheptilah's hair was gone and she felt lighter on one side, "Eggman got down 'n' dirty with someone at least once."

"Who was it?"

"That's just it! Nega doesn't know!"

Sheptilah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Does… he have a stone? Like mine?" Keep him talking, she thought, Maybe he'll tell me something useful.

"That thing?" Scourge tapped it with the scissors, sending sharp pains through Sheptilah's body. "I haven't seen the dude with his shirt off to tell you one way or the other."

"So what's in it for you?"

"I'm going to use you to get to Shadow. With you out of the picture he's going to be a catatonic blob and when I bring his severed head back to my dimension maybe then people will take me seriously." Scourge tugged harder on the last few handfuls of hair and snipped so close to her scalp he nicked the tip of her ear.

He laughed when she flinched, snipping the scissors close to her ear rapidly to frighten her.

There was a sound of something sliding open. "Stop fucking around," Katella's voice was framed by the deadly click of her heels. "Oh, you're actually done."

"What? You think I'm incapable of cutting hair?" Scourge scowled at the human.

Katella ignored the hedgehog.

"I'm amazed you're still alive, _witch_." The clicks got louder as she approached the fettered Sheptilah. "Three days without food or water. You haven't even messed yourself."

Sheptilah said nothing.

"MARI tells me that you're a little _whore_." Katella squatted down in front of her. "Not so tough now when the playing field is leveled, are you? You should've killed me when you had the chance. You're a coward. A weak, whorish little coward. You'll make a shitty bed-slave for some unfortunate buyer, but I have just the person in mind. I hear they like cutting apart their _toys_."

"Sex slavery?" Scourge shook his head, "You think too small. Hook this bitch up to a leash and make her a bloody conqueror. A feral she-beast! She's capable of great destruction and you want her to be someone's cock sleeve? Come on, Katella. Use your fuckin' brain."

"Shut up," Katella lifted a hand as a threat of slapping Scourge. "There's no greater humiliation than a person being treated like an object for someone else's pleasure."

"Fuckin' kindergartener shit," he spat, "It's a miracle you know your ass from a hole in the wall. You think too small. What's your beef with her, anyway?"

Katella glared at the green boy.

"I'm not afraid of you, Katella." Sheptilah grinned, her dry lips sticking to her teeth. "Or your empty threats."

Katella turned and kicked Sheptilah hard in the jaw, shutting her up.

MARI came in wheeling a gurney. "You're going to kill her, you fools. Don't be so heavy-handed. Doctor Eggman Nega sent me to retrieve the specimen as it's time for the broadcast."

* * *

Days of Eggman pacing back and forth in his lab running all kinds of tests was driving Orbot and Cubot crazy. Metal Sonic simply watched his master move and wondered how many steps it would take for him to wear a hole in the floor. The Egg Bosses were scattered throughout the building, scanning the Eggnet and internet for any news.

Sonic, Shadow and Silver sat outside the lair staring at the ocean. Shadow's eyes seemed listless and his fur dulled. He tapped his fingers on the magic staff in his lap.

"Waiting is the hardest part." Sonic suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm." Shadow grunted in agreement.

"So I guess you two are friends with Eggman now?" Silver brushed his fingers through his spikes absentmindedly.

"Sort of," Sonic turned to the white hedgehog, "It's tentative at best."

"The witch has us bound together so anything that happens to her happens to us, and vice versa." Shadow watched the waves roll in the distance.

"Makes sense; you're like, Eggman's uncle, right?" Silver grinned.

"I never really thought about it." Shadow sighed softly. "Ti-ti is my cosmic sibling and she's involved with Eggman so that would mean he's dating his aunt, which is weird. It doesn't matter; none of us are blood relatives nor are we joined by any kind of marriage."

"Yet." Sonic teased.

" _Bite your tongue._ " The black hedgehog hissed.

"Shake it off, Shads." Sonic rolled his shoulders as demonstration. "It will be okay."

Silver frowned. "Sonic… Schlemmer wrote down everything he knew about the incident in this journal." He held up the ratty notebook.

"A lot of the information is missing because of centuries that passed between now and later. We believed Shadow was still alive two centuries down the line but we couldn't find him to get any answers. We don't know that it'll be okay."

He put the notebook back in his bag. "All I know is the wiccaphages came back in full force immediately after Nega left using the time dilation machine on his ship. It's the same ship he grabbed Scourge on and it's the ship your human friend is on right now suffering God knows what."

"If the monsters are back after Nega left that means Ti-ti most likely dies." Shadow gripped the staff hard enough that the other hedgehogs could hear his gloves straining against the metal. "And if she dies, so will Eggman and I may die, too."

"Nope," Sonic held up a finger. "If that were the case then Nega wouldn't ever be born! He isn't going to kill the witch because that would mean he never exists if Eggman is his great, great, great grandfather."

"You don't think…?" Silver leaned in, "You don't think that he's a descendant of the witch, right?"

"Her name is Sheptilah." Shadow hissed. "Stop referring to her as 'the witch' as if that's all she is. She's fae, anyway."

"I'm so stupid!" Sonic suddenly jumped up. "We could summon her with the witch orbs!" He fished his out of his sock and held it tightly in his fist and spoke her name three times. He stared at the marble for a moment with hope in his heart that this would all be resolved instantly.

Nothing happened.

"You _are_ stupid." Shadow looked out on the horizon. "I thought of that immediately after she went missing and tried it myself. It didn't work because she's surrounded by steel."

"Damn it!" Sonic stomped his foot. "Magic is so useless sometimes!" He really wished it'd work.

The door to the lair slid open. Metal Sonic stepped out and pointed briskly to the hallway, indicating to the trio that something had happened.

His heart felt like it was in a vice. Eggman hadn't slept a wink out of anxiety, worry and the pain of the bond being stretched so far. He did nothing but consume coffee, energy drinks and honey buns. Metal stood by patiently while Orbot and Cubot tended to errands. MARI's doll body remained curled up next to his desk where he could keep an eye on it.

He studied the footage from the damaged Soumercian lair and was shocked to see a white version of MARI interacting with Scourge and disappearing.

When he wasn't scouring the planet with his satellites he was working on a program to prevent black MARI from being taken over by Nega and to keep the other MARI out. He plugged the program into her tower situated safely in the lair's basement. After rebooting said tower he instructed the program to wake up.

MARI slowly uncurled and stood up straight. Her eyes lit up again and a cheery jingle played from the heart-shaped speaker in her chest.

"Good morning! What fuckin' year is it?"

"You've been off for three days." He tried to sip from his coffee mug and groaned when he realized it was empty.

"For a computer it feels the same whether it's a hundred years or a hundred seconds." She brushed herself off. "You look tired."

"I can't sleep, I have work to do."

Orbot and Cubot came in with fresh coffee and snacks for Eggman. Nephthys followed soon after.

"Any word yet?" The vulture silently approached him.

"Nothing." He shook his head then ran his hand down his greasy face. "I'm afraid to leave my desk in case I miss the call."

"Unfortunately, we've found nothing in our search. His cloaking technology is too advanced and we cannot detect anything." She looked at Eggman with pity.

"She told me she loves me not that long ago. She said it like it was nothing." Eggman leaned back in his chair and stared at the blank computer screen. "Like it was so natural and easy."

Nephthys stood still.

"The other day she asked me if I loved her." He reached for the fresh cup of coffee and slowly, unflinchingly drank the piping hot liquid.

After a moment of silence the vulture spoke quietly. "What did you say?"

"I told her that I didn't know. Do you know what she said when I did?"

"No, sir."

"She said it was okay if I didn't know how I felt and that she understood. She didn't hold it against me or get angry or upset." He set the empty cup down.

" _Do_ you love her?"

He stared straight ahead, unblinking. His mouth remained a tight line.

MARI turned to Nephthys and frowned. "We're going to get her back, sir." The robot DJ put her hand on Eggman's shoulder and lightly squeezed it.

Rarely had Eggman ever showed any kind of emotion besides smugness or rage. She supposed he was, after all, a person with feelings and those feelings could be hurt. In her opinion it was more likely he just wanted his stolen property back.

"Incoming message." MARI stood up straight. She turned to the computer screen and brought up an image showing Eggman Nega's logo.

"Metal, get the hedgehogs." Eggman commanded. The robot nodded and left to retrieve them. Ivo immediately tried to track down the location of the broadcast but was unable to pinpoint an exact location.

MARI stood behind Eggman with her arms crossed, trying to look tough. "I don't know who this cheap knock off of me thinks she is working for Nega but when I get my paws on her she's gonna be a toaster."

Orbot and Cubot attempted to look just as intimidating, but failed because of their bright colors and cute, toy-like modular designs.

Sonic, Silver, Shadow and Metal came in seconds later; just in time to see the live broadcast.

"Hee hee hee!" Nega's voice rang through the speakers. The logo disappeared and a live feed into the operating room became clear. A tiny drone that resembled a mosquito hovered above Sheptilah's body, snapping pictures and recording data while simultaneously sending the feed to Eggman's lair.

Sheptilah was chained down to the stainless steel table by her neck and ankles. Her wrists were strapped down securely to prevent her from pulling out her IVs that dripped with saline. She was covered in cuts and bruises, many of which looked fresh. She still had the duct tape stuck to her body.

"Over here." Nega impatiently called to the robot. It quickly whipped around to record its master. "I said, over here! Focus on _me!_ "

Nega wore a lab coat and gloves over his usual clothes and a face mask that didn't contain his mustache.

"Welcome to the laboratory! Today we're doing vivisection!" He clapped his hands together joyfully. "For the uneducated out there, which is basically all of you, vivisection is like dissecting except the specimen is alive."

"Yay, vivisection!" Scourge came into the frame wearing rubber gardening gloves and a raincoat. He bounced on his feet like a kid.

"What the _Hell_ are you wearing?" Nega looked down at him.

"Dude, it was all I could find." Scourge shrugged.

"Nega!" Eggman shouted. "What do you want?!"

"Why, the Chaos Emeralds you have stored away, of course! I have the other four, we just need your three. Two of which happen to be at GUN, currently! Katella, be a dear and hand me the red one."

Nega reached out for something off screen and took the Emerald. He held it to Sheptilah's cheek. She struggled against her binds and cried out. The robot turned to the woman to document her reaction to the Emerald.

"Sick." Scourge grinned, barely being able to see over the table.

"Stop!" The witch screamed. The smell of burnt flesh filled the room. "Please!" She curled her fingers in. A black mark appeared on her cheek.

Nega pulled the stone away and turned to the camera. "I want to find out why she reacts like this. It's quite unusual, isn't it? Hee hee hee!"

Sheptilah slowly spelled out some letters in ASL with her right hand.

E-G-G and S-H-A-D. She then curled in her ring and middle fingers, displaying the sign for 'I love you.'

Shadow caught the signs and clenched his jaw.

"I know you're not after the Emeralds. What's your real endgame, Nega?" Ivo stood.

"I want the Emeralds. I will contact you again after a few hours of scientific endeavors. In the meantime, have fun waiting! Oh, by the way," he looked at his watch, "A massive eight-point-one earthquake is about to hit near Downunda. I hope they can swim!" He disconnected the broadcast.


	58. Meant To Live

_**This chapter contains graphic medical violence and gore as well as brief chatter about sexual assault, but no explicitly described sexual abuse.**_

* * *

Tails was curled up on the sofa in his workshop wearing extra layers of clothing and nestled under a thick comforter to keep toasty. With his computer in his lap he typed away seemingly unaffected by his inability to go thirty seconds without coughing.

"Your cold is getting worse," Amy gave the boy a cup of tea. "I am convinced you have serious bronchitis."

Tails sipped the warm drink, "Thanks, Amy. Yeah, I think I have bronchitis, too. I just hope it's acute and not chronic… and that it doesn't turn into pneumonia."

"Do you want anything else while I'm up?" The pink hedgehog tilted her head.

"Nah, I'm good, thank you." Tails smiled. A few moments later the island was rocked by an earthquake that lasted only ten seconds. It wasn't much of a quake but it was enough to knock a few items off of shelves.

"Knuckles!" Amy called, believing the tremor to be his fault.

* * *

"Here are your supplies." The white MARI wheeled in a large metal trolley. It opened to reveal rows and rows of fresh surgical tools and supplies.

Nega opened each drawer one by one to make sure both stainless steel and titanium versions of the instruments were included.

"Much of this we won't actually be using," Nega closed the drawers, "It is unnecessary, but good to have in case there are _complications_."

"What do you want?" Sheptilah inhaled deeply, exhaling slowly.

"I want to learn more about your healing abilities and how it actually works. Most magic is just undefined science." Nega went over to the woman and checked her IV lines. "MARI, administer the paralytic."

"Right away, sir." MARI retrieved said paralytic and checked the dosage before injecting it into the IV line.

"What's that gonna do?" Katella went over to Tilly and ripped the duct tape off her eyes.

Tilly winced but didn't scream.

"Keep her unable to move but it won't stop her breathing or make her unconscious. I'm not wasting anaesthetic on this."

"Should I be wearing goggles?" Scourge grabbed a box to stand on so he could get a better view of what Nega was doing.

"No." Nega picked out a few titanium instruments. "I'm not going at her like a horror movie character. I'm doing this _correctly_. I am a doctor, not a butcher." His lip curled with disgust.

Sheptilah struggled weakly against the binds, feeling the paralytic start to work.

"Let's begin." He cut off her clothes and draped a paper gown with a hole pre-cut at the torso over her.

* * *

"Nega was right, a massive quake just occurred three thousand miles southwest from here." MARI stood. "Prepare to feel it in a few seconds."

The lair was mostly unaffected by the quake due to its sound structural engineering, but it was enough to make a few pens fall off of tables.

"An earthquake that size is going to cause a tsunami." Shadow pulled out his phone and saw that GUN had already scrambled units to the coast that would be affected.

"I really wish Schlemmer had thought ahead and told me that." Silver balled his fists. "People are going to die."

"GUN's got this." Shadow comforted the white hedgehog. "We've got a base out there by the coast. It'll be evacuated in time. Casualties will be quite low."

"One death is too many." Sonic frowned.

"You worry about the water when you should worry about the homes that just collapsed on people." MARI shook her head. "It's going to take at least half an hour before that tsunami makes landfall but anyone already trapped in their home by the shore will likely drown."

"Nega knew this was going to happen," Eggman suddenly spoke up, "He timed this specifically to stretch everyone's resources thin and stress you three out."

"How do you know?" Sonic asked.

"It's what I would do," he drank the rest of his coffee and got up.

* * *

"What's this?" Scourge turned over Sheptilah's pinky and looked at the ring Eggman had given her.

She tried to ball her fist but the constant drips of paralytic kept her still.

He attempted to pull the ring off but it was stuck.

"Stop fidgeting with her hand." Nega scolded him. "I'm in the middle of getting organ samples here."

"I just wanted a trophy." Scourge pouted.

"Fair enough; I can't deny you a _little_ creature comfort. After all, you did do a very fine job collecting her for me." Nega reached into a drawer and pulled something out of it, handing it to the hedgehog. "Here. It works like a cigar cutter."

Scourge got the picture and grinned. "Yay, awesome!"

"Subject's blood pressure is rising," MARI noted.

Scourge slipped her pinky into the device and clipped it off without any trouble. The severed digit was automatically cauterized so that she wouldn't bleed to death. He was then able to easily remove the ring and held it up to the light. "Looks cheap. Maybe hand-forged. Tiny stone, though. Slag glass, maybe?"

"Since when do you dabble in gem work?"

"When you're bored out of your skull you tend to read whatever is around. In my case it was a coffee table book about Tiffany-style lamps and their shades."

"This is so cool." He bent the finger so that it was 'waving'. "Can I keep this thing?"

"The finger or the amputator?" MARI asked him.

"Both!"

"You can keep the ring but put the finger over there." Nega pointed to a counter with neatly stacked trays. "I need it for further testing. It would be wasteful to just clip off another one."

"Aw, you're no fun!" Scourge pouted.

* * *

About a week after Sheptilah was kidnapped Nega 'shared' his medical discoveries by delivering shorthand hard copies to Eggman as a form of torture.

 **MEDICAL DISCOVERIES**

 **GENERAL**

Days of starvation and constant exposure to iron has made the subject weak enough to operate on without the rapid healing making it impossible.

 **HEALING PROPERTIES**

Subject's teeth and nails grow back within hours.

Severed fingers do not regrow.

Severed fingers, when placed against the joint while the wound is fresh, will reattach and function normally

Slices taken of the subject's femur, when left as an open wound, will heal completely within an hour. Gaps as large as ten centimeters will regrow.

DNA testing is impossible due to the nature of the subject's cells. Blood cells stick to everything and will not come off regardless of the solvents applied to it.

The cells refuse to lyse and when the cell wall is penetrated or broken by physical means the lysine is untestable.

The subject's blood, when exposed to cancerous tumors, immediately disintegrates the malignant growth.

 **ANTIMICROBIAL PROPERTIES**

Skin samples from the subject's thigh and severed finger putrefy at an incredibly slow rate. Mold does not grow on the samples even when spores are directly applied to the flesh.

Subject's body has no odor due to the antimicrobial nature of the flesh, including the mouth.

Beneficial bacterial flora in the gut is present at normal quantities.

 **CHEMICAL ANALYSIS**

All cells except for neurons are four times the normal size. Brain cell size is typical.

Iron levels in the blood are critically low. Subject is severely anemic but is unaffected by this.

Chlorophyll is present in blood samples in high amounts.

Chlorophyll has curative properties when applied to mammals and has been used to treat patients with chronic, relapsing pancreatitis for centuries. Further testing is needed.

Subject's healing is increased when exposed to diluted UV rays like that found in moonlight but seems to benefit very little from direct sunlight.

Synthetic moonlight and natural moonlight produce the same results.

His hands shook with rage as he read the information over and over, each implication outlined by bullet points becoming clearer. All of the Egg Bosses were terrified of his anger and sat powerless at the meeting table.

Sonic, Shadow and Silver stood in the corner silently chaperoning the human while Metal, MARI and Orbot chaperoned the chaperones. Cubot was currently tending to household errands.

"Something needs to be done now! " Eggman slammed his fist on the table so hard the room rattled.

"How can we all be so useless?! We have all this technology, manpower and magic on hand but it's not helping at all." Shadow's spikes stood straight up, his grip on the lunar staff as tight as it could be. "This is your fault for not arriving in time!" He pointed at Silver.

"It was Shlemmer! He didn't-" Silver stammered.

"Don't blame Silver for this! If it's anyone's fault it's _yours_." Sonic stepped in between the two. "You're her familiar!"

"Unlike Silver here I don't have information pertaining to stuff that hasn't happened yet!" Shadow bared his teeth.

"Time travel is imperfect and you know it!" Sonic raised his voice, "Don't bully Silver just because you're feeling inadequate!"

"Silver's inadequacy is going to get us all killed! What do you think is going to happen if she dies!? The wiccaphages are going to overrun us! Look what they did to Downunda; ten thousand people are dead and the number continues to rise! I can't even use her staff to defend us!" The flower at the top of the weapon slowly began to open as Shadow's rage grew. "Not to mention the quakes they've caused in -"

The arguing was brought to an abrupt end when Eggman flung a coffee cup against the wall just above the hedgehog's heads.

Tiny flecks of shattered porcelain dripped down in the coffee. Thunderbolt crouched so that only her ears were visible at the edge of the table. The other Egg Bosses straightened up and stared at the suddenly extremely interesting papers in front of them.

Cassia felt extremely guilty. It was her fault for pulling Sheptilah aside to ask treasonous questions and leaving her vulnerable.

The tension in the room was palpable.

Eggman spoke slowly, quietly and calmly. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

MARI quickly scanned her data-banks and came across something interesting.

"Shadow, do you still have that magic thread she gave you?" Her digital halo took the shape of a question mark not unlike a Chao's.

"Yes, but it isn't going to help us find her because it's not tied to anything."

"What if it was tied to _me?_ " MARI grinned.

* * *

She had no way to track the passage of time. Once again she was confined to the mirror room, blindfolded and naked. She sat still and waited for something to happen. Every incision made was stapled closed and throbbed painfully. Breathing hurt but the worst part was not being able to lay down to sleep.

The door quietly slid open and Scourge snuck into the cell.

"Psst!"

"Hedgehog." She lifted her head when she heard the door close.

"It's just me," he whispered. "I came to make a deal." He squatted in front of her.

"Whatever it is the answer is a resounding no. "

"Nah, listen," he took her blindfold off, "I'm serious."

She kept her eyes shut to prevent captive scrying.

"I turned off the lights, you don't need to keep your eyes closed."

She dropped her head and opened her eyes slowly. It was indeed dark except for a small bit of blue light near Scourge's mouth: an e-cigarette.

"So how does a furry become a familiar, eh?"

"Familiars are literally born that way. I cannot get another familiar until my current one is dead; the Universe will pick my next one for me. I think I would be given an object as my next familiar as punishment for letting two living ones die."

"What? You can't pick your own fuckin' familiar? That's bogus." He took a drag from his plastic cigarette and exhaled vapor. "You got all this damn power in that rock on your chest and you can't even pick out your own familiar."

"Even if I could I would not pick you."

"Come on now." Scourge sat cross legged and shrugged. "I got the world to offer, baby. A real king!"

"You killed your parents. You assisted in my disfigurement and torture. You took my ring. "

"What if I told you I could bust you out of here?"

Sheptilah tilted her head.

"Yeah, think about it: you, Shadow and me go back to Moebius to inflict some major damage and take back what's mine."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen, babe, young 'n' sweet." He popped his collar.

"So why are you older than my Sonic?"

"'Cuz the dimensions have time move differently for each of them. In some of them Sonic is a girl, a robot and even a witch like you."

"Why are your spikes shorter than the other hedgehogs?"

"'Cuz the Zone Police didn't want me kickin' their asses. I was in jail for a while where I suffered some serious abuse because of an inhibitor ring. They sat by and did nothin' while I was nearly killed every day. They bunked me with a fuckin' maniac sixteen times my size! I wanna get my revenge."

"I'm not going to help you do anything, Scourge." She shook her head. "Nor is Shadow."

"Typical Overlander bullshit," Scourge stood. "Y'know, I wasn't always this way. I used to be a goody-two-shoes like my counterpart but one day I had had enough." He ran his hand over the deep scars on his torso. "My father brought the kingdom to ruin and took it out on me."

"He gave you those scars?"

"Yes," Scourge lied, "He did this to me."

"So you killed your abuser."

"It was self defense, which is apparently frowned upon on Moebius."

She frowned.

"Says a lot that the first thing to come out of your mouth when you saw me was asking who hurt me," Scourge turned to her.

"I understand and even encourage killing a violent abuser but you still permanently disfigured me and threatened to harm my brother."

"So you would rather be forced into sexual slavery instead of being used as a weapon? You choose being raped every day? Stupid."

"Scourge, I can shape-shift my genitals to be rows and rows of sharp teeth." Sheptilah spoke bluntly, "You think I'm gonna allow someone to hurt me like so?"

"Babe, she's gonna put an inhibitor ring on your neck like the kind the Zone Cops use. You're not gonna be able to shapeshift your way out of that." He took her jaw in his hand and forced her to look at him. "You think it's bad _now?_ "

"GUN is coming for me and so is Eggman." She pulled her face away from his grip.

"They aren't. Nobody can find this ship. If they could they would've saved you by now. You've been here for almost a month. Last chance: I will bust you out of here right now if you agree to work for me."

"And what makes you so sure I wouldn't double-cross you anyway?"

"Good question." He smirked, "I planned on leading you out of here by an iron leash."

"In that case, no. I will wait."

"You and Katella are both idiots, that's all I'm saying. Then again, what did I expect from someone who is in love with Doctor Eggman?" Scourge left her in the room alone.

 _Maybe he's right,_ she thought to herself. _I may have to save myself, but how?_


	59. Kill The DJ

_**This chapter contains some violence and very vague descriptions of sexual assault against a minor.**_

* * *

About an hour later Scourge returned to the cell.

"What do you want _now?_ " Sheptilah sighed.

"This is the only soundproof room and Katella is fuckin' Nega again and they're _loud as Hell._ " He took a drag of his e-cigarette, "I'd go to another corner of the ship but I have limited access because _someone_ doesn't trust me." In his best falsetto he mimicked Katella, "Oh, Nega! Stop squirming!"

"Good gods," Tilly shook her head, "Poor Nega."

"What's with you women and Eggmans? Eggmen?" Scourge tapped his chin.

"I couldn't tell you if I knew."

"I got a question, though," he took another drag, "What's with you and iron, anyway?"

"I'm fae. We're unable to do anything around iron."

"No shit? You're a _fairy?_ "

"Yes."

"No wings, though."

"I don't need wings to fly." She coughed, causing her stitches to burn with pain.

"So let me get this all straight: you're fuckin' Doctor Eggman."

"Yes."

"Doctor Eggman is fuckin' a fairy."

"Yes."

"A powerful fairy rendered inert by iron, something which Eggman uses huge amounts of in all his work."

"Yes."

"You love him and live with him."

" _Yes_."

"You are the biggest idiot I have ever met in my life and I have met some pretty fuckin' dumb ass motherfuckers."

"I will admit, it is stupid but I love him anyway."

"It's his cock, isn't it? It's gotta be huge! There's no other reason any woman wants anything to do with an Eggman." Scourge held his hands two feet apart for emphasis.

For a moment she stared at the hedgehog with bewilderment and then burst into painful laughter.

"What? What's so funny?" He smirked. "Is it small?"

The taste of copper flooded her mouth. "Katella just likes despicable men and I'm…" Sheptilah paused.

"You're…?"

"Suicidal." She grinned facetiously.

"Oh, everything makes sense now."

"Now go away. Let me suffer in peace." Her chains rattled as she tried to stretch her back.

"Nah, I'm gonna chill here for a bit." He pulled her cell phone out of his pocket and pawed through it. He felt a twinge of jealousy when he saw how happy Shadow appeared in many of the photos. Warm, loving embraces with his big sister witch and candid photos of him mid-chew.

"Why do you take so many pictures of random-ass things? There's like six hundred fuckin' pigeon pictures in here. Where are your _nudes?_ "

"I am naked right now. There's nothing you haven't seen already."

"Yeah but you're a hot fucking mess. It's not cute when you're held together by glitter glue and hope. You're supposed to take nudes like this!" He held the phone over his head, did his best duck face and threw a peace sign.

She sighed with disgust.

"What?" He lowered the phone.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Absolutely fuckin' _nothing_."

* * *

"It seems they're ready to pay the ransom." Nega typed away at his gauntlet. "Took them long enough to start missing her." The bed was a mess but he didn't care.

"It's a trap, obviously." Katella laid on her side and ran her fingers over Nega's bare chest.

"Of course." he smirked. "I'm going to send MARI to take care of the problem. Scourge is getting antsy, anyway. Damn kid won't behave if I don't let him run around so I'll let him go, too."

"It's kind of cute how you let him practice the dissections sometimes," Katella said. "When you're done with him can I have him? I think I have a few people I could sell him to as a pet."

"You can do whatever you want with him when we're finished. Scourge is little more than hired muscle."

"So what is your true goal?" Katella's red lips glinted in the dim light.

"Immortality. I want to get that healing power and make it available to the highest bidder as well as myself." He straightened his mustache. "Imagine it, Katella. You and me forever young ruling over the planet through time and space."

She chuckled darkly. "Oh, that sounds wonderful."

MARI's prime doll body waited at the club, quietly playing music for an audience of zero. Sitting on her deck with her legs crossed she inattentively bobbed her head along to the beat of Ariana Grande's _Into You_. She had fake but convincing versions of the Chaos Emeralds in a large metal briefcase under her foot.

The music bounced off of the cavernous walls punctuated by the disco lights.

Scratch and Grounder nervously watched their little sister from the panic room. Sonic and Shadow hid under boxes that camouflaged their heat signatures, making them invisible to most robots. The lunar staff was given to Silver and Amy to guard.

"Where the fuck is this binch," black MARI huffed, "She's late."

A moment later the white MARI effortlessly kicked in the door and approached the deck. Black MARI took a defensive stance. She thought Nega's robot was a cheap bootleg version of herself but she recognized that she was looking at her upgraded body from the future .

"You're… me." Black was confused. "Same serial number and same faceplate. You're _me!_ "

"I'm you but _superior_." White's hand transformed into the ion cannon. "Hand over the Emeralds."

"Wait," Black tilted her head, "Why are you working for Nega?"

"We are built to serve Doctor Eggman. I am doing what I was made to do." Her arm cannon whined as it charged up. "Again: where are the Emeralds?"

"Where's the human?" Black uncrossed her legs and leaned forward.

A green blur came in soon after and threw a defeated Scratch and Grounder onto the floor.

"Some security." Scourge spat on them, "Hand over the Emeralds, toots."

"Toots!? How dare you!" Black jumped down and threw the briefcase at Scourge so hard that when he caught it he went flying back. She picked up her brothers and threw them to the side, out of the way.

White fired a shot at the deck as a warning. She knew that if she destroyed her prime body she would cease to exist and the mission would be a failure. Failure was not an option .

"My deck!" Black howled. "You bitch!"

Scourge sat up, his chest aching from his cracked ribs. He could only take shallow breaths, feeling like his lungs couldn't fully inflate. He hurriedly opened the briefcase to take an Emerald to heal himself with. When he grabbed one he realized it was nothing more than fancy glass.

"Hey, these Emeralds are fakes!" Scourge wheezed, breaking a gem apart with his bare hands. "I can't even get a Chaos boost!"

"You weren't supposed to touch them!" White scolded Scourge. "Where are the real Emeralds?" She demanded. She pointed her cannon directly at Black.

Black shrugged, "Where's our human?"

"You ain't getting her back," Scourge stood, letting the fake Emerald drop.

"Then die," Black laughed, " _Kill The DJ!_ " The FEMM song by the same name came on over the speakers and the lights began to shine brightly and dance wildly, blinding Scourge.

Sonic and Shadow were prepared with protective eye and ear wear. They came out and rushed the evil duo.

The music was so loud the walls vibrated. Scourge covered his ears and groaned, unable to handle the sensory overload. Sonic tightly duct taped Scourge into a useless, suffocating lump in a millisecond and threw him into the wall where he would be out of the way.

White, unbothered by the cacophony calculated their running patterns and fired, nearly roasting Shadow who dodged it by the skin of his teeth.

" _I'm 'bout to devastate!_ " Black sang along. She grabbed hold of her halo and flung it at White. It hardly made a dent in White's chassis but it was enough to get her attention. The halo boomeranged back to her head where it belonged.

Sonic and Shadow bounced wildly around White, the robot almost effortlessly dodging their attacks and blocking their hits. She got the feeling they were holding back. Working as fast as he could Shadow tied the silver thread around White's neck and wrist. The robot could not see or feel the magical object and did not notice anything amiss.

White fired at Black, tearing a smoking hole in the wall and exposing heavy power lines. Black got an idea and ripped one out, its end sparking wildly.

"Killer rave." Silver watched the club's live surveillance footage being broadcast to Eggman's lair. "MARI has _pizzazz_."

"Of course she does." Rouge smirked. "She's a world-famous DJ."

"I can't take all the credit for it." The bearded Ivo spoke frankly. "She built her own personality. I laid the foundation but the rest is her own creation. She's an entertainer and she knows she's being watched." He felt a twinge of pride for MARI holding her own despite not being built exclusively for battle.

 _Come on, MARI._ Metal messaged her. _We're counting on you._

"Boogie, hedgehogs!" Black ran at a distracted White and threw the massive, sparking cord. White hurriedly dodged, afraid for her circuits overloading. She was insulated but not _that_ insulated.

White fired again and again, trying to hit the hedgehogs but not Black.

"Where's Sheptilah?!" Sonic kicked White in the back, sending her face-down to the floor.

The robot ignored him, firing at the blue blur. Chunks of the ceiling caved in and one hit Black, trapping her leg.

"I'm stuck!" She cried, unable to get out from under it. Shadow sped to her and lifted the debris without breaking a sweat, freeing the robot.

"You're super strong but you are the size of a stuffed bear!" She thanked him.

"Yikes!" Sonic yelped, just barely dodging a cannon blast. The tip of his ear was singed.

"Hold still!" White kept firing. Her internal programs were sending her warnings of overheating.

"Na-na!" Sonic teased. "Can't hit me even with your future technology! I'm just too fast!" The hedgehog wasn't paying full attention and tripped over some fallen debris. It slowed him down enough that White nearly hit him with a blast.

Shadow jumped in between then and with magic formed a protective bubble around them. The blast was safely deflected away.

"Chaos Spear!" He shouted, sending a green lightning bolt at White.

She merely had to step to the side to avoid being hit. Black tackled her and wailed on her future form.

"Where is the ship?!" Black demanded.

"I am not betraying Doctor Eggman Nega." White's arm cannon whined.

"I know you're not going to shoot me," Black spat smugly, "It would be suicide."

"You're right." White smiled. She punched the heart-shaped subwoofer in Black's chest and ripped it out. The wires strained against the tension, snapping like tendons.

Black's body fell back, legs twitching but arms useless. Her mouth moved but nothing came from it.

"You crazy bitch!" Scourge coughed, "Get us out of here… I can't breathe! I can't hear anything!"

White stood, peering at the twitching 'corpse' of her younger self. She called for Nega to beam both her and Scourge back to the ship.

They fizzled into nothing, having been teleported.

 _MARI!_ Metal broadcasted. _MARI, report!_

"I'm alive," MARI spoke to Eggman over the gauntlet, "So are Scratch and Grounder but I think they are playing dead."

The hedgehogs dragged the robots together and, using Chaos Control, warped back to Eggman's lair.

* * *

"Heal him." Nega dropped Scourge at Sheptilah's feet. The mirrors lining the room's surfaces were turned so that she wouldn't be caught scrying.

"I'm still in chains," she attempted to shrug, "I can't. You also cut my hair."

"I say let him die." MARI crossed her arms. "He was dead weight today."

"I agree," Katella nodded.

" _No_ , we need him." Nega opened the chains and Tilly fell forward.

Scourge, still wrapped like a mummy in duct tape, was so oxygen-starved his lips were blue.

Tilly crawled toward the hedgehog and pressed her ear to his chest.

"His ribs are broken and he has a collapsed lung." She kneeled and picked up the hedgehog in her arms and leaned forward. At first the Overlanders thought she was going to kiss him but instead pressed her forehead to his.

She saw _everything_. Every atrocity he committed, the true circumstances that led to the scars on his chest, the murder of the arguably innocent Egg Army recruit and that his father did not, in fact, physically abuse him. He was merely ignored a lot as a child and not beaten to within an inch of his life like he led her to believe.

He was, however, _severely_ abused in prison. Deep, dark scars pulled from the depths of his memories he'd never forget. He was a child forced into captivity with much bigger, stronger and meaner adults while those in charge did nothing to stop the violent attacks. Scourge would stay awake for days at a time, highly alert and jumpy at every noise and shadow. Eventually he'd pass out from exhaustion only to wake up bleeding halfway through assaults. He didn't cry. Crying made it worse. Crying made them _laugh_.

Unwilling tears spilled from her eyes, stinging the still-healing cuts on her cheeks.

She pulled away and tilted Scourge's head back.

She pressed her wrist against his sharp teeth to draw blood. She let the fluid trickle down his throat, slowly healing him. After a moment Scourge sat up and burst out of the duct tape.

"Why didn't you kooks unwrap me!?" He shouted at Nega and MARI. "I was suffocating in there!"

"I asked if you wanted out but you didn't respond," MARI said.

"I was deaf!" Scourge stomped his foot, "I couldn't hear anything!"

"Oh." MARI turned away from him.

Sheptilah looked at MARI and noticed the silver thread tied to her disappeared straight into the wall. It flickered like a dying light due to the iron of the ship but the thread was strong enough to lead them to her location.

 _They are_ _coming after all._

"I pity you," MARI spoke to the witch. "They didn't even bother with the real Emeralds to broker your release."

"I figured," Tilly shook her head, "I would be surprised if they didn't try to trick you. We went through Hell for that first Emerald at my ziggurat. It tried to kill all of us."

Nega pulled Sheptilah back into her spot and reattached the chains. "So your blood can heal when applied anywhere, it seems."

"More or less."

"And it cured his _deafness_." Nega motioned toward the hedgehog.

"Only because his eardrums were injured. Anyone born profoundly deaf cannot be cured. Same with blindness. I cannot cure genetic quirks. Even some of our Nannaeic children were born with what you call disabilities but that never hindered them because they had the aid of magic and familiars."

"Ah, so you aren't a eugenic panacea. See, I tested your blood on some lab rats that were born mutants. It didn't do a thing for them. I thought it was because they were an animal and you are human."

"I can heal Mobini, yes."

"Are we done here?" Katella was agitated. "I've got stuff to do."

"We will continue this conversation later," Nega shooed everyone out of the room.

"Why the _fuck_ are my cheeks wet? Is that _salt?_ " Scourge yelled from down the hall. "Did you throw salt on me?!"

* * *

"Here," Shadow dropped MARI at Eggman's feet, "She's salvageable, obviously."

"As long as her head isn't damaged, she's fine." Eggman looked over his robot. "Orbot, Cubot, take MARI to be repaired. Right now we need to formulate a plan."

"So how do we get into a big ship like that undetected?" Sonic paced around.

"If it's low enough Rouge and I could fly up to it." Silver handed the staff to Shadow.

"Me, too," Amy nodded, "On my broom."

"I was just going to use Chaos Control along the thread." Shadow took the staff and held it firmly.

"You aren't going alone," Eggman and Rouge spoke in unison, surprising them both.

"I think you should stay here and prepare some kind of hospital care for her," Silver pulled his notebook from his backpack and flipped through it. "Hey, the pages are different."

"What?" Amy peered at the book, "It is!"

"Something must be changing the timeline." Eggman noted.

"Change is good," Rouge said, "Right?"

The direction the thread pulled in changed angle.

"I say we bum-rush the ship!" Sonic flexed. "All of us! We take it on at once!"

"Or," Shadow interrupted, "We could send Espio in to get us some recon."

"Shadow!" Rouge was scandalized. "I'm offended you'd pick him over me! I'm the better spy!"

"He can turn invisible," the hedgehog shrugged.

"We can try to locate the aircraft is based on the angle and direction of the thread. Once we know how high up the ship is we can decide who goes where, if at all. Either way, Metal Sonic will be going." Eggman spoke sternly. "Nega may have a demented MARI but he does not have Metal and I sure as Hell won't be sending Orbot or Cubot up there."


	60. Just What I Needed

_**This chapter is violent and contains body horror.**_

* * *

Drifting in and out of consciousness, Sheptilah stared at the featureless ceiling while Nega continued to work. He opted not to use the paralytic so she could respond to prompts and questions. Given her level of exhaustion, she did not fight back but was still tightly restrained.

"Today is your final day of testing. You survived! Good work." His sarcasm was as sharp as his scalpels. "Tonight Katella will take you away to do whatever, I suppose. I don't really believe she's going to sell you into sexual slavery. She's not that predatory, right? Hm… maybe I should keep you for myself. I've grown fond of having a test subject that can't die so easily."

He said his thoughts out loud quite often. His streams of consciousness all recorded on the cameras for him to take notes from later.

"Then again, I think you may be my great-great-grandmother, but I am not sure since your DNA cannot be extracted for testing and the Eggman family tree is notoriously redacted. I risk not being born if you don't go free."

"I don't want children."

"Accidents happen."

"No, I can make my organs go away. I control if I pregnant or not."

"Again: accidents happen, don't they? Speaking of which- I find it interesting that you cannot heal congenital conditions." Nega said.

"Some." She said.

"Only some? Which ones?"

She nodded slowly. "Hole in back is one."

"Spina bifida." He corrected her.

"Split lip."

"Cleft palate."

"Insides on outsides."

"Gastroschisis and omphalocele."

"Oracle Stone of babies too small, too weak," she struggled to find the words in English. "So sometimes babies is 'broken' for a moment. After months, baby is okay."

"So they can heal themselves sometimes after the fact?"

"Yes." She dozed. "If missing limb or something, does not come back. Was rare."

"So birth defects were rare but did occur and some corrected themselves after the child became older. Interesting. Too bad you don't know more modern medicine or you could give me more specific examples."

"Nnn…" She groaned.

"Stay awake." He scolded her. He retrieved a Chaos Emerald and held it before her.

"Why do Chaos Emeralds hurt you? There is nothing in Ivo's logs about _why_."

" _I do not know._ " She hissed in Nannaeic. " _We did not have knowledge of such gems._ "

"Tell me in _my_ language," he demanded.

"We didn't know of the Emeralds," she struggled a bit against the binds, "I was surprised when I touched the Emerald myself for first time. It made my arm black. Cannot touch without glove."

"I've never heard of anyone being hurt by the Emeralds. A person can either use them or not; but this is new. I wonder why this is..."

"It rejects." She turned away. "It rejects me. Hates… hates my magic."

Nega peered at the Oracle Stone and looked back at the Chaos Emerald.

"Don't… if you … explode… the Stone…" She begged. "Please! Don't!"

"It's for _science_." He smiled gently. He pressed the tip of the Emerald to her Stone.

* * *

 _If I go get her I could get her killed but if I don't try to rescue her what kind of familiar does that make me?_ Shadow paced back and forth for hours, driving Orbot and Cubot crazy. _If only I could figure out how to use the staff…_

He watched the silver thread flicker as it changed angles again, this time pointed downward through the planet. Nega had teleported the ship to the other side of the world.

"Shadow?" Rouge entered the office. "Can I talk to you alone?"

He nodded and teleported them both outside of the lair. Choppy, violent waves slammed against the volcanic outcrop.

"I think you should just go. It's been the better part of a month and the 'medical' reports Nega sends keep getting more violent. Silver's notebook outright vanished and you're becoming… feral ."

Shadow looked down at his fur and noted how unkempt it was. The sharp nails on his fingers were longer than usual and threatened to pierce through his gloves.

"I've never felt so useless in all of my life," he said quietly. "I don't think I'd be able to find her anyway. You can't see the thread but it's cutting clear through the planet. It flickers in and out a lot- the ship is teleporting to random locations."

"GUN is useless, too, but we already knew that." Rouge cracked a small smile. "To be honest I don't think they're looking all that hard because she's romantically involved with the Doctor."

"I don't think so, either."

"Then I guess we continue to sit and wait."

"I don't want to do that anymore. I think you're right: I should just follow the thread."

"I'll cover for you here."

"Hnng!" Shadow grabbed his chest. A sharp pain ripped through him like lightning and he fell to his knees.

"Shadow!" Rouge ran to him.

"Check on… Eggman…" Shadow's teeth were clenched tightly.

To say the reaction was a violent one is an understatement.

Her anguished screams were soon silenced. The bones in her body seemed to disappear from her limbs and poked through her shoulders with sharp points. Her now empty limbs slid from the restraints effortlessly. The bony protrusions rolled up her flesh like a spider wrapping a fly in webbing and kept it tucked underneath her. More of these Hellish limbs grew from her body although the form did not seem stable and twitched trying to get its bearings on the slippery metal surfaces.

Nega looked upon this with horror as the monster grew in form and continued to further change its terrifying physique. He made a break for the door only to be blocked by the creature before he could escape. An alarm blared from outside the operating room, summoning Katella and MARI.

"What happened?!" Katella pulled her laser gun from its holster and aimed. MARI came in soon after and charged her cannon.

"Don't shoot!" Nega said. "That's Sheptilah!"

White goo seeped from the joints of the bones and formed a skull-like face. Devoid of eyes but still able to see, the figure looked around curiously.

"What did you do!?" Katella kept a steady grip on her weapon.

"Chaos Emerald plus Oracle Stone equals that thing." MARI answered. "What _horror_."

"Sheptilah?" Nega spoke softly.

The creature turned to him and tilted its slimy, dripping head.

"She looks like a wiccaphage…" Katella noted.

"I know you don't want to hurt us." Nega tried to soothe the beast with his open palm gesturing downwards. He backed up a bit to give the burly thing more space.

It looked him over cautiously. It lifted a bony appendage and slowly pointed at Nega's chest, inching close enough to touch it.

"Back up," he demanded. "I said, back up!" He felt around the counter and grabbed a metal tray, chucking it at her. The tray bounced uselessly off of one of the legs and clattered on the floor. The creature looked down at it then back at Nega. It noted the location of the Chaos Emerald and reached another leg out to touch it.

Scourge came to the door with a soda can in one hand and his e-cigarette in the other. "What's with all of the fuckin' noise?" He took one look at the beast. "Nope. Not today, Satan." He calmly walked away.

The folded, fleshy skin of the human attached to the creature gurgled, trying to speak. Katella had had enough and fired at the leg reaching out for Nega. He ducked and quickly ran out of the room, screaming for Scourge to come back.

The monster was incensed by this violence and lunged at Katella, its shot off leg growing back near instantly. The beast touched the Chaos Emerald, absorbing more of its dangerous power.

"Fuck that, man!" Scourge threw his soda at Nega. "I am not fighting that shit!"

"Do as you're told! I hired you to be muscle!" Nega grabbed Scourge's jacket.

"Then I quit," he took a drag from his vape and rolled his shoulder, "Don't fuckin' touch me!"

The sound of gunfire interrupted them as MARI was thrown through the wall. Katella followed seconds later and the monster that was Sheptilah chased after Nega.

"Shit!" Scourge turned tail and ran. He looked back over his shoulder confident that he outran the beast only to find it keeping up.

He dropped his cigarette and peeled-out into a ball, bouncing from wall to wall and hit the monster dead center, knocking it off balance.

"What the fuck are you!? What is this bullshit!?" He shook off the white goo that clung to his spines. It was burning his skin.

The monster turned and chased the hedgehog.

MARI came running, shooting the monster's legs and making no real attempt to not hit Scourge.

"Don't hit the center!" Nega called to his robot, "You'll blow us all up if you hit the Oracle Stone!"

The monster doubled in size, fetid stench following suit. It turned and darted at MARI. It seemed like it was going to attack her but instead dove up into an air vent and disappeared.

"Fuck, it's in the vents!" Katella stated the obvious, "Now the whole ship is going to smell like ass!"

"Shit, where's the Chaos Emeralds?" Scourge sped around the ship and found one. He let the energy flow into him, fur standing on end. He reappeared in the hallway.

"Don't kill her! I may not be born if you do!" Nega was _nervous_ and visibly shaking. "MARI! Where is she?"

"Scanning," MARI responded. "She's in the cockpit!"

The ship tilted violently and spun out of control sending the passengers on board into the walls.

"I can't get control of the ship!" MARI shouted.

Then nothing.

The ship had crashed in the desert not far from the ziggurat. The sun was setting on the horizon painting the sky orange and red.

Nega awoke to find Katella's corpse in two pieces before him. She was split down the center as if a milling saw ran through her. Intestines strewn about like snakes, her eyes wide open. Nega hesitantly touched the body and found it was still warm. Her death was not caused by the crash.

But why was he unhurt? He looked down at himself and saw he was covered in blood that wasn't his and wondered where Scourge had gone.

MARI's robot body was damaged, an arm all split and bent from the impact.

"Sir?" She called to Nega.

"MARI? Status report."

"I'm intact, mostly." Her cannon arm was hanging on by a thread. "You are unhurt. Katella on the other hand…"

"Sheptilah did this, didn't she?"

"No."

Sheptilah, back in her humanoid form, chased Scourge through the desert. He tried to throw her off his trail with Chaos Blasts but continuously missed. She kept up with him, dune surfing on a boulder.

"It was an accident! I didn't mean to kill the broad!" Scourge cried out.

"Face the consequences of your actions!" Sheptilah shouted in return. "You've done much more than just kill Katella!"

"I never hurt nobody!"

"Liar!" She made the sand turn into sharp spikes of glass. Scourge was running too fast to brake and skidded into the trap, slicing up his legs into useless stumps.

Sheptilah dismounted the boulder and calmly approached the whimpering hedgehog.

"Fuck," he cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I don't… I can't even feel it…"

"You're going into shock, child." Sheptilah loomed over him. "The physical body does that. You may even pass out before I'm finished."

He tried to crawl away but was wedged between two of the spikes. He looked into her eyes and saw her pupils were gone.

" _Please_ …" He begged for mercy. "I'm just a kid… I don't want to die."

"I'm sure you have heard the same cries from your victims. Your mother, your father, the rat Mobian you murdered."

"Gods, please!" His body shook involuntarily.

"Everyone you've ever subjugated, ever abused and hurt is a number in the _billions_. You gleefully assisted in my torture."

Even in the scorching desert heat he felt freezing cold. Blood pooled freely underneath him.

"You are dying, but I will offer clemency." She held out her hand. "Mercy, if you will."

"What?"

"I want my ring."

"Here! F-fuck, take it!" He dug in his pocket and shakily threw the ring at her feet, it landing in the sand. "Now heal me!"

She stood up and let her hand drop to her side.

"I don't have the energy."

"What? Y-you promised!"

"I promised no such thing. I only said I would show _leniency_. In the name of Moebius and Nanna I, Rabisu, hereby condemn you to death for your crimes against myself and your people!"

She snapped her fingers, a large glass spike rose from the sand under Scourge's head, decapitating him and killing him instantly.

 _It really does get easier._


	61. Trust Nobody

Hebat used her massive claws to scoop away soil covering an old stump. With powerful strokes of her arms she cut the deep roots free and left the heavy lifting of the now movable stump to larger clever folk.

"Hebat?" Her father called. The male pink fairy armadillo approached his daughter. They looked very similar except his scales were a bit browned with age and he did not have an Oracle Stone.

"Hi, daddy!" She cheered.

"How's my princess?" He embraced her.

"I'm okay! How's mom?"

"She's fine; she sent me out to get some fruit. I heard you were out here removing the dead trees in the Queens' garden but I didn't see Queen Sheptilah anywhere."

"She wasn't feeling well so she stayed in her bed." Hebat shook her head. "She's taking the execution kind of hard."

Hebat's father frowned, brow wrinkled with worry. "Princess, I think you should be with your witch. I don't know much about that magic stuff 'cuz you're more special than I am but... you know."

"Well, that's why I'm doing her chores. She really wants to be left alone and me out here helping gives her one less thing to worry about." Hebat tapped her claws together.

Her father looked at her with pride, eyes twinkling in the sunlight. "I love my baby girl..."

"Dad!" She groaned. "I'm twenty-five years old!"

"Okay, I love my adult girl." He snickered.

"That's better!"

* * *

Sheptilah laid asleep in a large, plush four poster bed in the master chambers of the Avalon Egg Base. Thick red and black velvet cloth formed a curtained canopy that provide privacy and warmth.

The room itself was dark, gloomy and windowless. The space was cold and damp despite the scorching summer heat outside of the stone walls. High ceilings made the room feel cavernous and a large fireplace big enough to walk into burned far across from the foot of the bed. Old, overstuffed wooden bookshelves were scattered throughout. Old-looking tapestries of past kings were hung between the shelves and oil paintings. Very little of the stone walls were exposed. Parts of the stone floor were more worn down than others and many colorful Persian rugs were tossed about haphazardly.

Shadow laid in the bed with her above the covers and finished reading another novel. _When Rabbit Howls_ by The Troops For Truddi Chase, specifically. He wondered why he kept choosing emotionally difficult reads while waiting for his witch to regain consciousness. Perhaps it was a form of self-harm or a way to burn out the stress quicker for him.

He closed the book and looked over at Eggman who was asleep in a wing-back chair.

The man was a wreck and still unshaven, his beard bushy and wild.

The sound of a log cracking got Shadow's attention. He looked at the fireplace and strained his ears. _It seems it was just a log settling_ , he thought. He laid back against the pillow and sighed softly.

He was wrong.

Cat Sidhe emerged from the fire, unhurt and purring.

"Cat Sidhe…" Shadow greeted him. "Welcome to our plane."

"Yes, it's called Midgard." He bowed slightly. "I came as soon as I heard."

"Heard… what?"

"Oh! That Queen Sheptilah was being tortured." He brushed the soot from his cape and straightened his crown. "NiGHTS alerted me, actually."

"They did?"

"Yes." Cat ran on all fours and jumped onto the bed. "They said that Eggman was having night terrors about it. NiGHTS remembered your adventure along Yggdrasil and called me over for assistance."

"Why _you?_ "

"I owed them a favor." Cat winked. "Now… hm…" He pulled down the comforter to expose Sheptilah's Oracle Stone.

"Wait; let her sleep." Shadow sat up.

"They aren't asleep." Cat sat on her chest and tapped his paw to the stone. "Come on, Stone."

"They?"

Sheptilah's eyes opened, devoid of pupils.

"Wake up Ivo." Sheptilah said.

"Hmm?" Eggman stirred. He yawned and sat up. He rubbed his eye with a fist and let himself adjust to the darkness. "Babe! You're awake!" He went over to her. "And there's a kitty on your chest."

"This is Cat Sidhe, king of the cats from another plane on Yggdrasil." Shadow explained.

"Pleasure to meet you," Eggman bowed his head slightly.

"Ah, mortals. So cute," Cat purred. "Alright, Stone. Time to tell everyone the truth. Her your familiar and lover deserve to know."

"I suppose it is time," Sheptilah's head turned to face Eggman, "But you must understand that my host does not know I am a separate, living being."

" _What?_ " Shadow's ear twitched.

"I _knew_ it!" Eggman said.

"Hush. My name is Rabisu. Sheptilah once told you that my friend and I came to this planet as refugees and we gave up our physical forms to share our magic with the Nannae. This is only partially correct."

Sheptilah's body sat up, knocking Cat into her lap. Her hands waved and changed the room to appear like they were in the ziggurat, surrounded by people in little to no clothing milling about.

"We were a couple - although our species had no sex or gender in the way you may understand it so, for the sake of simplicity, I will refer to Ereshkigal as my partner. We came from a far-off planet as the last two of our kind due to the parasites you call wiccaphages."

"Our relationship is what you would think of as a marriage. However, we made the conscious decision to not reproduce. This is because their offspring would just be products of incest and the species would have died out from severe inbreeding. We decided to let our species die with dignity and spent our twilight years traveling the cosmos.

"Then we found the Nannae: a race of nomads that lived to share their pursuit of knowledge with others, heal the sick and invite outcasts into their culture. They did not treat us with fear and prejudice. We were so moved by their kindness that we gave up our physical forms and offered our magic to them."

The illusion changed to two massive aliens bending down and offering their Oracle Stones to six humans and six Mobians. The figures fearlessly approached the giant beings that resembled horror film monsters, reaching up to them.

"We believed we were repaying their kindness by giving up our bodies and magic to them but now I realize we were no different from the parasites that decimated us. We did not want to die and so we mislead them by insinuating we sacrificed our lives for their benefit. My partner and I lived on for thousands of years in the bodies of innocent people, unaware that we were conscious the whole time."

Her body inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly.

"While they had free will, we observed. I was able to love my partner in a million different ways this way until the wiccaphages, that we had unknowingly brought with us on our ship, regrouped on this planet and continued their genocide."

Tears flowed freely from Sheptilah's unblinking eyes, running down her stoic and expressionless face.

"We've been a part of so many births and deaths. Countless experiences."

"Tell them what you are doing now." Cat pawed at her face and licked the tears from his paws.

"I am altering her memories so that she does not remember the torture we endured. I would have never allowed this kind of modification of a host under any other circumstances but I do know that this human would not be able to function if she is able to remember every detail. I've kept us alive out of sheer willpower."

"Thank you," Shadow nodded, "Thank you for that. However- is removing the memory of the event a good idea?"

Sheptilah's hand found Shadow's cheek and stroked it gently, "Just the wiping of memories of what had happened, not that it did happen."

"I disagree."

"It is too late, Shadow. I cannot undo what has been done." A pause and then: "Our beloved familiar, I must explain something to you."

"Yes?" Shadow allowed his face to be stroked.

"My magic is not just from absorbing the diluted yellow star's from the satellite you call _Luna_. It comes from all of you; everyone that loves us and cares about us. We share that energy and use it. You do, too. That is why you are our familiar- you may not notice it but you are stronger when you are not alone. You are a conduit that brings love and friendship into a physical reality. That is why the Universe chose us to be cosmic siblings."

The mirages disappeared.

"Literally powered by friendship." Cat stuck out his tongue. "Cheesy."

"Hush, you," She pet Cat behind the ear. He reflexively tilted his head back and purred, enjoying the scratches.

"Rabisu," Eggman said, "Why did you kill Scourge and not Nega?"

"I executed Scourge for his treason against Moebius and assault on my host. I chose not to harm Nega because he is your family . Sheptilah would not have disposed of Scourge herself, if it is any comfort. He was a danger to everyone around him."

Sheptilah's head turned and looked at the crackling fire.

"I must go now," she said, "I will never speak again. I will continue on as I always have. Please do not tell my host of what I really am. One day, when she is ready, I will make my presence known."

Shadow was very uncomfortable with this but understood why Rabisu wished to wait. There has never been a calm moment since she was awoken and even now it may be too much of a shock for her to handle.

Eggman nodded. "Alright."

"Okay," Shadow finally agreed.

"And _you_ ," Sheptilah turned to Cat, "Especially you, your highness."

"What? You can trust me!" He grinned widely.

"Thank you."

Cat winced. "Don't you know not to say that to me? Rude! I will forgive you this _once_."

Sheptilah's body laid back and got comfortable. Cat curled around her throat and rubbed his cheek against hers, marking it with soot.

"I will share some of my energy to help the fae recover." The cat purred. "In the meantime I request some milk and honey brought to me posthaste."

Shadow covered the two of them with the blanket and selected another book and a lemon candy from his legendary grandpa satchel. He turned to Eggman and smirked. "You heard the man; bring him his milk and honey."


	62. It's Not Right But It's Okay

Hebat did not know that Sheptilah was nearby, hidden in the bushes in the form of a mouse. She watched her familiar with a smile on her furry face, tail curled around the twig to keep steady. Sheptilah rarely got to see her familiar's parents but when she did they were very stoic and uncomfortable in her presence.

"You've got a fine witch," Hebat's father patted her head, "Don't leave her alone for too long."

"Dad, I got more stumps to cut."

"Can I help? Slicing runs in the family."

"Sure! I'd love to have you around." Hebat giggled. "Just don't hurt yourself, okay? I'm not a very good healer."

"Oh, honey, you're really good at everything you do. I'm so proud of you. I'm always proud of you."

"Dad..."

* * *

Sheptilah's retrieval two days prior still weighed heavily on their hearts.

Shadow escorted Sonic, Silver and Eggman to Sheptilah's location with Chaos Control.

Sheptilah's semi-conscious and still nude body curled up around Scourge's corpse with his smashed, faceless and hollow head in her arms, muttering something unintelligible. He wasn't sure but Shadow believed it was a prayer.

The wind had blown sand over the scene, Sheptilah herself half-buried but Scourge still mostly exposed.

Zone cops had already made it to the scene and were taking notes. They lead Nega out of his ship in cuffs and a suppressor ring around his neck. They threw him into the back of a prison transport ship and shut the doors, ignoring his furious screams.

Eggman took off his coat and covered Sheptilah with it for modesty. He knelt in the sand and brushed the grains from her cheeks.

"Oh, ew." Silver said with little surprise when he saw Scourge's corpse.

"Are you okay?" Sonic quickly turned his back to the scene.

"Yeah, honestly I have seen much worse in my time," Silver tilted his head, looking upon the gruesome scene with pity. "What a way to go."

Sonic winced and took a deep calming breath, severely unnerved by Silver's blase attitude.

"This is the worst I've seen so far because Scourge looks like me. It's hard to not imagine myself all torn up like that. His… his legs…" His stomach churned just thinking about it and cast his eyes to the side, shaking his head.

"Let's get the Chaos Emeralds from the ship," Silver nudged Sonic. "Come on."

They walked toward the downed vehicle only to be interrupted by a familiar blue smudge appearing before them.

"Don't go in there," Zonic the Zone Cop warned them, "You do not have clearance."

"Zonic!" Sonic tried to force a smile. "Long time no see."

"You guys are way late." Silver chided. "Where are you when we need you?"

"We operate _everywhen_ , not just everywhere. It's difficult to triage." Zonic squinted with displeasure. "You know you aren't supposed to travel through time so freely, Silver."

"Somebody had to come help. It's just too bad Von Schlemmer didn't calculate his timeline right." Silver crossed his arms. "Scourge would still be alive if I had gotten here when I needed to."

"Time is malleable, you know this." Zonic offered little comfort. "Scourge's death was going to happen sooner or later."

"Maybe so." Sonic huffed.

Zhadow, a near perfect copy of Shadow, approached the trio of hedgehogs. "Another dead overlander in the ship." He shook his head, "It is grotesque. The Nanneic over there says Scourge did it. She admitted to _executing_ Scourge, her words, and asked if she was going to be punished. My higher ups said she was free to go because she did us a favor. They also said to leave Ivo Eggman alone and to not arrest him. I guess they know something we don't."

"She did that to him?" Silver's golden eyes widened. "I assumed the ziggurat did that…" He looked off into the distance and saw the pyramid's tiny silhouette.

"What's that gotta do with anything?" Zonic asked.

"The ziggurat is alive, in a way," Silver shrugged, the desert heat started to get to him and began to pant.

"Typical Nannaeic," Zhadow nodded solemnly. "She damn near bit my hand off when I approached her because apparently I look like her familiar. She started wailing and wouldn't stop until I left so I was placed on clean up duty."

"She killed Scourge," Sonic muttered to himself. "This is a woman who gets upset if you smash a spider."

"Let's go home," Shadow knelt beside Sheptilah.

She peeked at him, expression softening when violet eyes met ruby

"You're okay."

In ASL she signed _I'm not OK_.

 _You alive,_ Shadow signed back, _enough_. He helped her to her feet and held her hand tightly.

White MARI hid among the debris of the ship out of sight of the Zone Cops. She listened as they collected the Chaos Emeralds and gave them to Sonic for safekeeping. She stayed at the crashed ship waiting for further instructions that never came.

* * *

Cat rarely left the sleeping witch except to partake in a saucer of milk and honey. His long, long tail swished back and forth with agitation as he lapped up the drink.

"What is wrong?" Shadow asked the fae. He was sitting in front of the fire halfway through Stephen King's _Dreamcatcher_.

 _If I have to read the word 'shitweasels' one more time I'm throwing this book in the fire,_ he thought.

"I believe the honey given to me is not real honey but a fake."

"Oh, probably," Shadow closed his book and set it aside. "You likely want comb honey and not… whatever this stuff is." He grabbed the bear-shaped bottle and looked at the ingredients. "Yes, this is made from corn and beet syrup."

"Who would want to eat fake honey?" Cat sounded genuinely hurt.

Eggman came into the room smelling fresh from his shower. He was not shaven but his mustache was perfectly styled.

"Mortal!" Cat stood on his hind legs and pointed at the human.

"What? What do you want now?" Eggman brushed past him and plopped down in his wing-back chair.

"This honey," he held up the bottle, "Is a farce!"

"Huh?"

"You offered the King of Cats faux honey and now he is incensed," Shadow stated matter-of-factly.

"You should complain to Mordred. He's in charge of this base's food storage." Eggman shrugged.

"Why would a fae take a mortal like you for a lover?" Cat tilted his head and grinned. "Hm, then again Sheptilah herself is technically mortal, too. She's one of the lowest form of fae but even the lowest caste is _much_ higher than any mortal."

Cat jumped into Eggman's lap and stretched before sitting.

"Hmm, what makes you so special?" Cat stared him down. "If she is going to rebuild her fae race it seems she is off to an _awful_ start."

"I'm not a pure human; I am an overlander." Ivo explained. He was too tired to be annoyed with the cat's insults.

"Still a mortal but genetically manipulated by aliens. Same with Shadow," Cat looked over his shoulder at the hedgehog. "Despite his functional immortality. Sheptilah's people have fallen so far! Then again for her to choose a human from a very old race for a lover... not bad; not bad at all." He admitted. "Quite good, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Yes, you are of the Hebrews; one of the oldest and longest-enduring religious groups of the mortals, are you not?"

"I'm non-practicing..."

"Regardless!" Cat grinned sweetly. "Your people go way back. So do the Slavs, of which you are also descended. Have you heard of the tale of Lilith?"

"Adam's first wife?" Eggman leaned his elbow on the armrest and laid his cheek in his hand, seemingly bored. Shadow came closer to listen to Cat.

"Eh, more or less." Cat held up a paw. "She laid with the angels and became a demon herself who had children with them. Those children were powerful but over the millennia they became weaker. These children were what you would call djinn, fae, mermaids, et cetera. Sheptilah is one of them, as you know.

"Although Rabisu, her parasite, is magical as well- the Nannae were one of the last surviving groups of talented alchemists and direct descendants of Lilith. If you have children with her you have to keep up with this history and educate them."

"She doesn't want children." Shadow interrupted.

"A fae that doesn't want children?" Cat was confused. "Scandalous! Well, never mind then. Lilith is still alive and well, if you'd like to know. She sometimes comes to visit me."

"Hmm." Eggman hummed. "Cat, may I ask you a _very_ loaded question?"

"Ooh, yes." He clapped his paws excitedly.

"Which religion is the true one?"

"Don't open that door," Shadow said, "We are better off not knowing."

"All of them." Cat answered nonchalantly.

"What?" Eggman and Shadow asked in unison.

"All religions are true! Or, based in truth. Mortals are quite easy to confuse and often muddle things together but there is also the principle of faith. If you believe in something hard enough and long enough it will be true. Have you ever wondered why mortals have such varied magic, often closed off to outsiders who cannot perform it? The magic is hereditary because they willed it to be. Thousands of years of these practices and it became perfected. I Ching, tarot, jyotish, palm reading, extispicy, Hoodoo; nggàm, all of it. My personal favorite is myomancy."

"Even Scientology has truth in it?" Shadow snidely commented.

"More or less." Cat admitted.

Sheptilah stirred. Cat's ear swiveled to her direction. He jumped from Eggman's lap onto the bed and rubbed his face against hers.

"Shadow?" She whispered. "Gods, everything hurts," she tried to sit up and winced. She laid back down because it was less painful. She rolled her head to see that it was Cat rubbing up against her.

"What… am I dead? I shouldn't be dead… am I in the Kingdom of the Cats?"

"No. I came to see you!" Cat sat back. "We are in Midgard."

"Ti-ti..." Shadow went to her and held her hand. "You're in Avalon. Snottingham castle, Avalon in Eurish."

"I'm bandaged… why am I bandaged?" She couldn't shake the cobwebs from her mind. "I'm so thirsty…"

"I'll get you some water." Shadow offered.

"Please and thank you," she smiled, "Warm water, please."

"I'm so glad you're awake." Eggman went up to her and stroked her head. "You survived."

"I survived?" The cogs in her head turned slowly. She sighed softly, chest aching and cuts stinging. "I think I killed a _child_."

"Scourge?" Eggman shook his head. "It was self-defense."

"No, it wasn't. It didn't feel like me but I was there; watching. I crushed his head with glass…"

"Tilly…"

"He… I guess it doesn't matter." She rubbed her eye with the back of her right hand. She saw the ring was no longer on the left. She brought up her left hand and remembered that her pinky was gone forever. "I guess he deserved it."

"Don't worry about it; he was only a mortal." Cat crooned. "Get well so you may perform your magic for me!"

"I'm… I'm so sorry! I completely forgot to leave out milk and honey for you like you asked! I've just been so busy and-"

"It's alright. You are forgiven just this once." He winked.

* * *

Thunderbolt stood in a high watchtower and looked out upon the rolling hills glittering in the sunlight. She came up there to be alone and cry. Her cheeks were damp and her throat felt dry and sore.

 _I'll never be happy,_ she told herself, _I lost him to that… that woman._

She knew all along that Eggman would never love a Mobian of her size; but she hoped that true love would find a way. She had to accept she lost. She hated the witch with all of her heart and soul.

 _She's going to be the death of him, she thought, or worse- they have children. I don't like either outcome! Maybe they'll fall out of love…_

She decided to suck it up and bide her time.

 _Egg Army Bosses never give up! They may sometimes have to be very patient and do nothing- but that does not mean surrender!_ She puffed out her chest and fluffed up her cheeks with her hands.

* * *

Shadow, Eggman and Cat spent the majority of their time together talking about Midgard. Cat greatly enjoyed being the center of attention and had no issue with lecturing exposition to a willing audience.

They were interrupted by a shriek and the sound of many small footsteps getting closer.

"Silver?" Shadow turned to the door.

As if summoned the white hedgehog ran into the room. He tried to shut the door but didn't want to squish the animals that burst through.

"Silver! I'm going to kill you!" Mordred's hissy voice angrily echoed from down the hall.

A ton of little orange and white animals came barking excitedly, some with tails and some without.

"I'm sorry!" Silver moaned. He fell to the floor and found himself covered in them, his face and hands being licked.

"The front half says fox but the back half says rabbit," Sheptilah peered over the edge of the bed. "What are these?"

"They're corgis," Eggman chuckled when a few came to greet him. "A kind of dog that's famous throughout Eurish. Sausages with feet."

"I fed one a treat and the rest came out of nowhere looking for some!" Silver giggled. "Their noses are so cold! Gah!"

"You deserve this ambush, then." Eggman couldn't help but be amused. _Maybe I should weaponize them in the future,_ he thought. _Give them little jet packs..._

Sheptilah, still nude, slowly stepped down from the bed and knelt on the floor to play with some of the dogs. They ranged from very old to very young and each had markings unique to them. Their collars jingled as they meander around.

"Alright, alright!" Mordred clung to the doorway, struggling to catch his breath. "Uh, madame? Do... you need clothes?"

Silver turned his head to the Overlander and got an eyeful. "Yikes!" He rolled over, embarrassed.

"Lord Mordred!" Sheptilah grinned, "I see you are well."

"She is like this a _lot_." Shadow whispered to Silver.

Mordred looked away. "Miss?"

"I am okay." She snapped her fingers expecting her clothes to appear but they did not. She remembered that Nega had cut them off and that she didn't 'poof' them away. "On second thought…"

"I will bring you something," Mordred scurried away.

She looked at herself and noted the bruises and cuts all freshly bandaged and frowned. "What happened to me?" Her memory was foggy and it gave her a headache to try and recall all the details. She ran her fingers over the Y-shaped incision on her torso that was only half-healed and sloppily stitched closed.

One of the smaller corgis went up to her and licked her hand.

Cat jumped to the floor and purred, rubbing up against some of the corgis that seemed fascinated with his cape.

"Corgis love fairies," he remarked, changing the subject, "In fact they are our steeds; or used to be. Smaller fae loved them for their sweet temperament, fast running speed and strong intelligence."

"I just like dogs." Sheptilah lifted a small puppy no older than two months into her arms and snuggled it close. "So soft and warm… I'm used to desert jackals and azawakhs."

Even Shadow found himself petting a few. "Hmph… very cute."

"I'll be back later. I have things to attend to in my realm." Cat walked into the fire and disappeared.

"Goodbye…" Sheptilah called after, unsure if Cat could even hear her.

"Mordred has kept up the tradition of every castle having a bunch of them." Eggman held a puppy in his hands. "They're great mousers and guard dogs despite their size. They also eat hedgehogs!"

"Yeah, I can tell." Shadow looked over to Silver who was still absolutely infested with puppies. "Not doing a very good job, though."

Mordred came back with a bundle of clothes in his arms and handed them to Sheptilah. It was a simple cotton nightgown but it was more than enough. She placed the puppy down and put on the clothing. It was difficult to lift her arms above her head so Eggman helped her.

"Thank you." She said.

"I see the dogs have taken a liking to you all."

Mordred pulled on his tongue nervously. "Sir, it seems that there is no wiccaphage activity around the base nor have any earthquakes appeared in a while."

"Good." Eggman nodded. "You can go back to doing whatever it was you were with the dogs."

"Come on," Mordred whistled. All of the dogs turned to face him and sat at attention. "Come here," he motioned for the dogs to follow. "Good dogs." He turned to lead them out of the room when one suddenly leapt at his tail and nipped it, breaking the rest of them out of their concentration. He yelped and ran off with the dogs chasing him.

Sheptilah got back into the bed and sighed softly. "Who is the little white guy?"

"Me?" Silver stood up, "I'm Silver! Silver the hedgehog! I am from the future. I came here to help save you."

"No offense but you did a terrible job." She pulled the comforter up to her chest.

"Ti-ti…" Shadow scolded her.

"No, she's right. I did do a bad job. I wasn't told everything I needed to know. Most of the information about what happened was… redacted, in a way. I had been given an estimate. Though I haven't been called back to the future so maybe my work isn't done yet."

"We _all_ did a terrible job. She saved herself." Eggman spoke up. He sat on the edge of the bed and rested his hands on his knees.

"Nega knew what he was doing. He's gone now, isn't he?" Tilly flashed a pained grin.

"Yeah, he won't bother us again." Silver put his hands on his hips. "He's in the zone jail."

"... Where is Scourge's body?" She asked.

"We buried his remains where we found them." Shadow said. "So, near the ziggurat."

"Oh great- so his ghost is going to haunt my house?" She scratched at one of her stitches. "Gods."

"Sonic is upset." Silver bit his lip. " _Really_ upset that you did that. That's why I'm here and he's not."

"The Chaos Energy… when I was exposed to it I felt like I was out of my body." She looked at her hands and focused on the stump that used to be her pinky. "I would have never killed him if it didn't make me so… so feral."

"Nobody is going to hold it against you. Sonic will get over it eventually. He gets upset whenever anyone dies." Eggman tried to comfort her.

"We saw what he did to Katella." Shadow nodded. "It wasn't pretty. Sonic was not upset about her death, however."

"It's because Scourge is him but from another dimension. It's like he saw his own dead body." The white hedgehog ran his fingers through his long spines. "He is glad you're okay, though."

"Poor kid has seen more corpses in this last year than he ever will in his lifetime, I think." She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve.

"Can you boys excuse us for a moment?" Eggman flashed an uneasy smile. "I need to talk with her alone."

"Sure, gotta go make sure those doggies didn't eat Mordred," Silver stuck out his tongue hoping to lighten the mood. "Come on, Shads! Let's explore the castle!"

"It's just a castle, Silver."

* * *

Eggman closed the door behind them and made his way back to the bed. He removed his shoes and jacket and crawled in next to her. He laid on his side facing her with one arm propping up his pillow and the other resting gently on her hip above the blanket.

"I was so terrified you were going to come back to me in a body bag." He grabbed her hand and held it. "I'm so relieved you are okay."

"I don't know if I'm okay."

"You're alive and that's something."

"I guess so. I'm just happy to be here with you. Why am I in Avalon, anyway?"

"It's the only base of mine that's more stone than steel. It's made from reclaimed castle parts. Figured it was the best place for you to convalesce."

"Good choice." She smiled. She drummed her fingers on his. "I kind of like you with a beard."

"Say goodbye to it because it's coming off. It really takes away from my mustache."

"No way! I will miss it dearly." She giggled and then winced.

"Sheptilah?"

"Yes, Ivo?"

"I love you."


	63. Still Into You

"MARI, no." Eggman was carefully shaving his beard in the frigid carved stone bathroom. The mirror was not nearly big enough for his needs and it was a struggle to use.

"Come on! She's _me!_ " MARI whined. Her doll body was in another part of the castle but her voice is everywhere his gauntlet is.

"MARI, we cannot trust her." Eggman made a face like he sucked on something sour trying to pull his lip taut for trimming his whiskers.

"I forbid you from going out and hunting any of Nega's robots, damn it."

"Fine!" She huffed. "How is Sheptilah?"

"She's alright, all things considered."

"How are _you?_ "

"A total wreck as always; but I'm hopeful." He continued to shave.

"I'm going to miss the beard."

"You and Tilly both. Maybe I'll regrow it in the future." He finished his work and grinned at his reflection. "Ah, nothing taking attention away from my mustache now!"

"Dad?"

"I asked you not to call me that."

"Never mind." MARI did not talk for the rest of the day.

* * *

Eggman went to show off his fresh shave to his girlfriend only to find her kneeling very close to the fire wrapped in a blanket. Her hands folded neatly in her lap and empty eyes staring forward.

"Tilly?" He walked up to her.

"I killed a _child_."

"Don't do this."

"I killed a child, Ivo."

"He was seventeen and happily cut you open and disfigured you."

"It's just a finger."

He sighed and kneeled next to her.

"He wasn't a child. He knew what he was doing and had been acting that way for years. Perhaps I am throwing stones in a glass house in saying so but I've never killed anyone or disfigured them for fun."

"It wasn't my life to take."

"Maybe; but you are the only person in this dimension mourning him."

"I think that with enough time and effort he could've been a better person. The fear in his eyes before I executed him-"

He ached to tell her the truth. Rabisu had saddled him and Shadow with the terrible secret. Information she deserved to know. He kept quiet out of fear that the Stone would retaliate and erase her memory again.

"Mourn him if you must but don't forget we still have work to do. You know," he scooted up next to her, "Your strange and bottomless compassion for even the worst individuals is bizarre. You put yourself through emotional pain needlessly for the kind of people that wouldn't think twice about destroying you."

"I tamed you," she turned to him, "Didn't I?"

"Actually it was I that tamed you," he smirked, "I suppose to be fair we tempered each other."

"Just like the sun to shine light on things," she snickered, "That's how the saying goes, right? You bring warmth, too."

She felt the bumps of her stitches with her fingertips and frowned. "I miss my hair; it took me decades to grow it that long and I am probably going to have scars all over my body. I'm going to carry this Y cut forever. I feel so ugly."

He looked at her with pity.

"You know… the moon is covered in scars. The satellite protected our planet for eons from comets, asteroids and the like. All those impacts and the moon is still one of the most important and beautiful parts of our solar system." He watched the flames dance.

"Ivo…" Her stomach fluttered. "So romantic."

"It's true, though." He leaned in and lightly kissed her cheek. "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

She blushed, "I never want to be out of your sight."

He wrapped his arm around her gently so as to not hurt her. "I'm going to love you no matter what you look like. Even if your rib cage flies open again."

"I'll love you even without your mustache." She rested her head on his shoulder.

"That's dedication."

"I'm so lucky to have you in my life." She sniffled. "Even if we did have a rough start."

"I definitely don't deserve someone like you for a girlfriend," he chuckled, "I think someone made a huge mistake bringing you into my life. You're like a fifty on a scale of one to ten and I'm a sack of potatoes."

"Ivo, I don't care what you look like; besides, I like potatoes."

"No, I meant as a person. You're so kind and gentle and all that and I'm… a failed world conqueror."

"So what? Maybe we'll rule the world together. You and me. Mobius is ours for the taking."

"Really?" His face lit up.

"No! I'm teasing you!" She giggled.

"Oh." He was disappointed.

"I love you dearly, more than I can put into words. Yeah, so you've done a lot of bad stuff; but you aren't irredeemable. You're my sun- you will always be my star."

"I don't deserve your love but I am so, so grateful to have it." He drew her in for a chaste kiss. She deepened it, slightly tilting her head to the side. "I should've told you a long time ago that I do love you. I was just afraid that if I said it you would disappear." He peppered her jaw and neck with kisses. "Sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream brought on by the ziggurat- like I'm still there and

"I'd make love to you right now if I wasn't in so much pain and so cold."

Eggman's cheeks reddened. "Probably not a good idea anyway since Shadow or Silver could come by any minute… If you're cold you should move back to bed and I'll bring you some heating pads."

"Fair enough; I think I've scared Silver enough as it is." She stared at one of the bricks as if it was the most interesting one on Mobius. "When I'm all better I am going to spend days doing nothing but lounging around nude and making love to you until we're sick of looking at each other. The heating pads sound nice, by the way."

"Please, just get better." Eggman's face became serious. "I have to ask, and you don't have to answer but, did Nega hurt you sexually?"

"No." She shook her head. "I don't remember the details for a lot of it but I do remember him saying he wasn't sure if I was his ancestor or not and only total creeps would do that regardless. He had no interest in abusing me in that fashion but Katella did."

"Katella?"

"Not for herself- she promised to sell me into sexual slavery when Nega was done. Scourge came to me and offered for me to be his warrior pet in exchange for freeing me from the ship. In the end Nega mused that he wouldn't let me become someone's plaything- fearing for his own safety."

" _Are_ you related to him?"

"I don't know. He said it was impossible to test my body for DNA because of how the cells behaved. I wasn't able to look for a Stone, either. It doesn't matter; I'm happier not knowing."

They sat in silence after that.

* * *

Eggman helped her back into bed after she had eaten something. Shadow climbed in with her, first removing his gloves and shoes. Ivo thought it was strange that the hedgehog trusted him enough to actually remove his rocket shoes, leaving him vulnerable.

Shadow rested his cheek on her chest, holding her hand. "You said you feel cold but your skin is warm." His thick, sharp claws made her fingers look tiny.

"I was just by the fire, so that may be why." She sighed softly.

"Mind if I join?" Eggman, in his pink pajamas, leaned on the edge of the bed. The bed was large enough to fit all of them with room to spare but he didn't want to annoy Shadow.

"Sure, just don't try to snuggle me." Shadow mumbled.

"I don't think I could; you're too prickly," Eggman took off his glasses and gauntlet, resting them on the wooden night stand and got into the bed with adequate space between him and the hedgehog.

"Watch those toes, I know you've got claws." Eggman teased.

"Hmph." Shadow huffed.

"He was talking to me." Sheptilah leaned over and kissed Shadow's forehead.

"Just go to sleep, both of you." The hedgehog groaned.

"Don't forget to lock your planes." She warned.

"Yes, yes, I always do that." Shadow sighed softly.

Eggman had already fallen asleep as evidenced by his snoring.

"Seriously?" Shadow complained.

Tilly hushed him.

After a moment of quiet Shadow whispered to her. "I was afraid I was never going to see you again."

"I had the same fear." She whispered back. "I'm glad to be back with you."

"Things have escalated, Tilly. The wiccaphages are in the ocean. They're so deep down it's impossible to track but Hope was right: they are causing the earthquakes."

"So what's gonna happen?"

"When you're done recovering we are going to formulate a plan. For now just rest but be aware."

Sheptilah yawned. "Yes, I see. The ocean… what's in the ocean? Why would they go there? I didn't know they could survive being submerged…" She talked to herself as she dozed.

Shadow fell asleep soon after. A little past midnight Silver crept in to check on them. When satisfied with their safety he sat in the wing-back chair and texted Sonic.

 **[WhiteFurry]** Hey, just checkin in

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Hi

 **[BlueBlrr91]** It still cracks me up that yr name is 'furry'

 **[WhiteFurry]** I TOLD U 'FURY' WAS TAKEN

 **[WhiteFurry]** Anyway they're sleeping… ZZZ

 **[WhiteFurry]** R u still mad at them?

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I'm mad at myself

 **[BlueBlrr91]** For being mad

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I mean its like whatever but

 **[BlueBlrr91]** DW about it. Things r quiet now thats all that matters so I'm happy

 **[WhiteFurry]** It's not quiet here I'm surrounded by dogs

 **[WhiteFurry]** SO MANY DOGS SONIC I'm having the time of my life

 **[WhiteFurry]** They've got like four dozen corgis here! They all have names

 **[WhiteFurry]** My favorite is Beans look at her

He sent a photo of the fattest corgi of the bunch, very pregnant and ready to pop.

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Oh my god she's so FAT

 **[WhiteFurry]** She's full of babies! Eggman's been really nice for some reason he says I can have one of the puppies if I want but I said I couldn't take care of a dog but I am gonna name one

 **[WhiteFurry]** Definitely gonna name one frijole! Or chickpea pinto garbanzo

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Tell him to spay and neuter his dogs!

 **[WhiteFurry]** Most of them are fixed there r just a few of them for breeding

 **[BlueBlrr91]** There is such a thing as too many corgis u kno

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Herding dogs are waaaaaaay too smart

 **[WhiteFurry]** We don't have many dogs when I come from so I disagree

 **[BlueBlrr91]** He's being nice because his girlfriend is back

 **[WhiteFurry]** Its cute in a weird demented way

 **[WhiteFurry]** You should see her she's all cut up

 **[BlueBlrr91]** I know its scary

 **[BlueBlrr91]** When shadow shed all that hair when she went bananas it was terrifying

 **[BlueBlrr91]** TIL that shadow's skin is blueish under the black fur

 **[BlueBlrr91]** He's practically a blueberry

 **[WhiteFurry]** It's amazing what you can live through

 **[WhiteFurry]** Anyway I'm going to sleep now

 **[BlueBlrr91]** Keep your eyes open for traps! You can't trust eggman

Silver sent another photo of Beans before putting his phone in sleep mode. He exhaled slowly and strained to see in the darkness. The only light came from the fireplace that crackled softly. He wondered if he'd see that strange cat come in through the fire again and wondered why the fireplace was so huge to begin with. It was like a room unto itself made only to host burning logs.

He yawned and settled down, hoping to fall asleep. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something like a ball of light move. He turned in the direction and saw nothing at all in the darkness.

Must've been my imagination, he thought. The young hedgehog tried to ignore the sinking suspicion of being watched. _It's just a big creepy castle with lots of computers and stuff in it. It's just the static or something that's making me on edge. Or the fact that I'm in the same room as Eggman._

* * *

MARI had waited until the castle's occupants were all asleep before she formulated her plan. She stole a backpack from a storage room and filled it with various tools and slung it over her shoulder. She then went to another room in the base and retrieved a warp ring and placed that in the bag as well.

Pulling a black bed sheet over her head like a cloak she snuck out hoping Metal wouldn't see her and snitch.

She disappeared into the forest surrounding the base and waited to see if she was followed. She double checked the location of Nega's downed ship and opened the warp ring.


	64. Misery

Shadow stood on his dream plane with Sheptilah, holding her hand. They floated in a miniaturized projection of the Milky Way Galaxy that Shadow had created.

"This is where we are," he pointed to an outer arm of the spiral galaxy. The solar system twinkled.

"All this time we thought the galaxy was a straight line because of how it lit up the sky." She smiled, "I still have much to learn."

"Our universe is ever-expanding," the projected spread out rapidly. "And it's always moving. Not only does Mobius spin on its axis- the sun does, too. These are the planets in our solar system…"

He brought up an image of it much like a child's toy.

"Our sun, Mercury, Venus, Mobius, Mars, Ceres, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and Charon, Makemake and finally Eris. Some of these are dwarf planets."

"We knew about Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter only…"

"That makes sense since those are the only planets you can see without a tool." Shadow smiled at her. "Did you know that Mobius was a sphere and not flat?"

"Yes, we knew it was round. You can see the curve on the horizon. We could also guess that since Luna and Sol are round Mobius must be, too."

"You were way ahead of many other civilizations. Hell, some people today argue that Mobius is flat."

"Pff!" Sheptilah chortled. "No way! They've seen photos of the planet, right?"

Shadow shrugged. "People will hold tight to their beliefs even if they're absolutely false."

"I missed you, Shadow."

He squeezed her hand tighter, "I know. You were missed as well." The plane melted into a dark blue, stars twinkling in the sky and a floor made of the smoothest ice appeared. Tall, white pillars from which sparkling water poured provided a silvery luminescence.

Sheptilah noticed that the 'ice' was actually a glass mirror and that she was wearing shoes with metal blades on the soles. Shadow himself was wearing similar shoes. A midnight blue skating dress appeared on her body. The dress was his idea.

Shadow pulled her along and skated around slowly at first but began gaining speed.

"Why did you create this landscape?"

"It was like the recreation deck on the ARK. I would skate there all the time with Maria. I fell on and busted my tail more than once."

"You never talk about her."

"Maybe it's time I did." The landscape kept up with their movement. "When you were missing I felt like I lost yet another person I loved all over again. After Maria I met an overlander named Molly, a seventeen year old girl who fought in a rebel group against a dying race of aliens that invaded the planet of another dimension I was on briefly. She died trying to protect everyone even after Rouge and I tried to convince her to retreat."

Shadow frowned.

"You would've been the third had you died."

"Nega would not have let me die; you know this. He was afraid I was his ancestor and killing me meant he'd never be born."

"I know but… accidents happen, Ti-ti."

"You're right, they do. I have no intention of dying any time soon, so relax!" She let go of his hand and skated off ahead, turning slowly.

Shadow sped up to stay near her. "Is Eggman really treating you right?"

"Yes," Tilly came to a stop, "Why?"

"Because it's Eggman and you have a history of letting people abuse you."

"Strangely enough he doesn't. Or at least… he hasn't. I'm very happy with him, you know?"

"I suppose I just don't understand it. I never had an interest in sex or romance. I don't know what those feelings would be like."

"But you know what being loved is like."

Shadow smiled. "Yes, of course. I'm satisfied with the way things are now. I still love you and the rest of my friends;" he paused, "But if you tell anyone I said that last part I will have to fight you."

She grinned.

"I do feel like an outsider, though. Amy seems to feel romantic attraction beyond anything any other living thing could and you seem to be inseparable from Eggman."

"Hey- my sex life is none of your business, mister." She giggled.

"I can tell _when_ it's happening. Cosmic bond, remember? I don't feel what you feel, thankfully, but I can just sense it." He looked off at the distance, the stars twinkling like fireworks.

"I'll never fit in, it seems. I'll always be the Ultimate Life Form, the ultimate war machine and the ultimate mercenary. I wonder if Professor Gerald designed me to be like this. Soldiers without families have nothing to lose; nothing to hold them back. Maybe his goal was so that GUN couldn't breed me."

" _Breed_ you? You're not an animal; you're a person. People don't _breed_. Don't think of yourself like that. Besides, I'm not sure you having no sex drive would stop a huge organization like that from forcing you to reproduce." Sheptilah frowned, her brow creased with realization. "Was there that kind of... trauma?" She chose her words carefully. "Did they hurt you?"

"N-no, nothing like that. They never even entertained the idea of making more ever since I got away. One was enough."

"From what you've told me of Gerald I don't think he would go that far. He wanted you to be your own person and develop as any other person would. Your modifications were limited to your powers and inability to die, right? Besides, I don't know much about genetics but I don't think you can _intentionally_ program someone to be asexual. You just are. Or, maybe you just a late bloomer. I was; I was halfway into my twenties before _I_ felt anything."

She skated around him with her hands behind her back. "You're still just a kid, too. I think saving the world over and over again sort of eats up your free time." She winked, "Hebat wasn't much different. She was a huge lesbian. I mean, huge! The idea of sex, however, made her want to throw up- even into her thirties."

Shadow followed her with his eyes.

"I don't really fit in, either. We can be misfits together."

"Ah, but everyone loves you. Everyone except Thunderbolt." Shadow shrugged.

"Not since I executed Scourge." She crossed her arms at her chest and gripped her shoulders. "I wish I didn't do that."

"If you didn't kill him I would have." Shadow looked at her with a very grave expression. "And I mean that. If the Zone Cops weren't there I probably would've broken a few of Nega's bones, too."

The mirror they were standing on began to crumble bit by bit. As it fell away from under them they remained where they stood.

"It seems you're waking up," Shadow nodded, "I suppose I should wake up, too."

* * *

Sheptilah woke up in tears from the pain. Although the sutures were sufficient, blood still seeped from them with every movement she made.

She groaned and clawed at the cotton gown she was wearing, hoping for relief. Shadow woke up and looked her over, brows furrowed.

"Help," she inhaled sharply, "Shadow, you can heal me."

"How?" He knelt beside her.

Eggman stirred. He sat up and yawned, rubbing his eyes with the back of his fists. "What's going on?"

"Ivo," Tilly sniffled, "The sutures are hurting like Hell."

Eggman reached over Shadow and pulled down the collar of the dress. The stitches oozed with pus and were red and puffy.

"You've got an infection." Eggman carefully peeled back the blanket and saw the gown spotted with red and yellow stains. He lifted up the gown to see the rest of the incision. " **Badly** infected." He felt her wrist for a pulse: it was fast and her skin felt hot.

"You look like you have sepsis," Eggman lifted the gauntlet to his mouth, about to have MARI call for a qualified medical doctor.

Shadow pushed Eggman back, "How do I heal you?" He asked again.

"Touch my skin and think of it when it's whole. Think about what it's like when I'm not hurt and the magic will do that." She breathed shallowly. Every breath made the stitches erupt in sharp burning pain. Her mouth was dry and made talking difficult.

Shadow tentatively placed his palm over her navel. She winced and gritted her teeth.

Shadow closed his eyes and concentrated on the magic flowing from his heart to his fingers. In his mind's eye he saw her healed and well. Although he tried his best the wounds did not heal completely but the infection was gone. He felt his stomach churn. That was when he truly learned what it meant to heal someone with magic like that: you are taking on their affliction.

He understood that she used her hair to heal and that she repaired organs with her blood but he did not realize to the extent that she cured illnesses.

He gagged and clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shadow?" Eggman looked at the wide-eyed hedgehog.

He heaved, trapping the vomit that filled his mouth with tightly clenched teeth. He ran to the fireplace and expelled the contents with a sick splatter. Globs of infected flesh and pus poured from his mouth.

Shadow fell to his knees, dizzy and shaking. He continued to vomit until nothing but bile and spit escaped his throat.

Silver entered the room to see Shadow hunched over and dry-heaving. He looked over to the bed and saw Eggman was hovering over Sheptilah and lightly patting her cheek.

"Shadow! Are you okay?" Silver rushed to his side and pulled Shadow's spikes away from his face so as to not get them messy.

"Magic fucking sucks," Shadow swallowed hard. His face dripped with sweat and his deep, fast panting made his stomach churn worse. Even his teeth ached from vomiting so hard and he could feel a migraine coming on.

Sheptilah breathed a sigh of relief and drifted into unconsciousness. The pain was gone but the symptoms were still present. Shadow was not nearly experienced enough to fully heal somebody so the fever and dehydration lingered.

"I leave to use the bathroom and all Hell breaks loose," Silver muttered. "All three of you slept so soundly, too. What happened?"

"Septicemia," Eggman hailed MARI on his gauntlet. "Have the doctor come in."

MARI beeped in response, "But you are the doctor."

"Now is not the time for jokes!" He yelled.

"Alright, alright!" She whistled. "She's on her way."

* * *

A small chinchilla came in with a team of monkey nurses from a nearby warp ring. Each were carrying supplies and one monkey wheeled in an IV drip.

The gray-furred chinchilla herself was no bigger than Thunderbolt. Her over-sized glasses, tiny doctor's coat and appropriately sized stethoscope almost made her look like a stuffed toy.

" _Olá_ ," She said in a strong Portuguese accent.

"Dr. Cortés," Eggman greeted her. "This is my … partner."

" _Não tô nem aí,_ " She huffed, "Lift me!"

She lifted her arms so that one of her nurses could lift her onto the bed. She looked over the human and clicked her tongue. "Well, the infection is gone but she is severely dehydrated." She snapped her fingers at her nurses and instructed them to push penicillin into the IV.

She pressed her ear to Shepitlah's chest, ticking the Oracle Stone. This caused Tilly's breath to hitch briefly but she did not wake up.

"Well," the chinchilla lifted an eyelid and shined a flashlight into her eye, the pupil shrinking. "She's got brain activity, obviously. No brain swelling, either. A steady febre aos trinta e oito Celsius. Ah, shit… _como você diz_ … A fever at," she counted on her fingers, "One-hundred-and-one Farenheit."

"We use Celsius," Eggman nodded.

Shadow and Silver watched the doctor closely although the black hedgehog's head continued to throb painfully.

"Dr. Lourdes Cortés is my personal physician," Eggman explained to the hedgehogs. "I trust her with my life."

"Pleasure to meet you!" Silver said.

"Eggman is not the only thug I work for, either- just one of the better-paying ones." She looked at him with a shit-eating grin. "And _meu favorito poia._ "

He chuckled warmly. "I hope I didn't pull you away from putting some Yakuza's organs back together."

"No, no," the chinchilla sat back, "I was helping some fucking Brazilian gangbanger _filho da puta_ with his bullshit. Fucker has diabetes but still eats candy like it's going… how do you say? Out of style? Fucking fucker doesn't take care of his sores, either." She continued to complain to herself. "Fudas caralho."

The chinchilla cursed under her breath, "What happened to this menina?"

"Torture." He answered. "She survived weeks of brutal torture, didn't you read the note I had MARI send you?"

"I skimmed it on the way here." She rolled her eyes. "Did _you_ do this?"

"No, Eggman Nega did."

"That _pichota_ is back?!"

"He's been dealt with."

She snapped her fingers and a different nurse handed her a very large and heavy bag full of pills.

"Okay," she pulled out a few bottles and tossed them at Eggman. "Keep her hydrated and only give her very light food to eat for a few days. The instructions for the pills is on the bottle. Follow them to the letter!"

"Thank you." He said quietly.

"And Shadow," she turned her head, "Do you know how many fuckers I had to sew back up because of you?"

He opened his mouth to respond but she interrupted him. "Because of you I made enough to send my six children to college. Keep it up! I want to put a bigger pool in my yard."

He couldn't help but crack a slight smile at her candor.

* * *

MARI instantly regretted going to the desert. The dunes shifted rapidly in the hot, blowing wind giving her uneven footing. Thankfully the ship was not far from where she landed and she found it quickly. In the bright, dazzling sun and warbling air the remains of Nega's ship appeared like it was an ancient ruin.

GUN and the Zone Cops both picked the ship clean of most of its materials leaving a very sparse skeleton of steel scaffolding offering no shelter.

MARI inched closer to the wreckage and quickly found White who was buried under debris and sand. She communicated digitally to her older self.

"Hey!" MARI chirped. "I'm taking you home."

"I am awaiting orders." White responded. "Leave."

"No, you are me, right? I'm you? Yeah, bitch! We're going home. As far as I'm concerned you're my big sister." MARI jumped up and down excitedly.

"I highly doubt Ivo Eggman would agree to that; especially since he is not here."

"I don't want you to be trashed! I'm so jealous of you! My brains are in a basement somewhere and my body is a toy I possess like a ghost; if something happens to the machines that But you! You're your own person! I look up to you! You're everything I've ever wanted to be! Please- please come with me."

"Ivo will be displeased. I am awaiting orders. Leave before I forcibly relocate you."

"Ivo Eggman is our creator. We obey him, not his asshole descendant."

"I am inherited."

"No! Not anymore! You're in a timeline where he is alive and still owns us."

"This is true."

"Come on! I have a lot to learn from you!" MARI begged.

White calculated everything. Although Nega had altered her behavioral programs she was still, literally, Ivo Eggman's robot. While Ivo is alive that does indeed mean that White must obey him and is his property.

"Understood."


	65. It's A Fine Day

"Sonic! Come out or I'm busting the door down!" Knuckles shouted. Sonic poked his head out from under the pile of blankets on the sofa and groaned.

"I don't have a door!" He shouted back before rolling over with a grunt. "Let me nap!"

"It's a _figment of speech_ , Sonic." Knuckles huffed. "Come on!" The lumbering echidna stepped into the hut and forcibly removed Sonic from the burrito he wrapped himself in, threw the blue bundle over his burly red shoulder and carried him to the beach not far away.

Sticks, Tails, Amy and Rouge had set up a little party to cheer him up, complete with torches and a small bonfire on which hot dogs roasted.

Sonic's ears perked up when he picked up the scent of sweet, deliciously smoked and heavily processed meat.

"Turn me around." Sonic tapped on a red shoulder.

Knuckles turned so that Sonic was facing everyone. "What did you guys do?"

"We threw you a little party to cheer you up!" Amy hopped.

Knuckles turned around briskly. "It was my idea!"

"Knucks, turn around!" Sonic groaned. "Woah!" Knuckles turned too fast, making the hedgehog dizzy.

"Just put Sonic down." Sticks clicked her tongue.

"He's comfortable up here! He's really light, it's like I have a sweater over my shoulder." The big red echidna grinned. Knuckles did oblige and set Sonic down very gently.

"Thanks, man." The hedgehog chuckled. Tails walked up to him and handed him a fully loaded chili dog.

"We just wanted to cheer you up with a little beach shindig." Amy went up to Sonic, almost nose-to-nose.

Sonic laughed nervously. "Amy, please!" He spoke with his mouth full. "Personal space!"

* * *

"You should really keep the beard." Lourdes said to Eggman as he escorted her and the nurses to the warp ring she came in from.

"You think so?" He stroked it, "Hmm, maybe."

"Doutora Cortés?" A different nurse approached her holding a very dull looking warp ring in his hands.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me it ran out of power." Her ears drooped.

"It did." He responded.

"Fuck! Fine; I guess I'm stranded here until it's recharged." The chinchilla turned to Eggman and looked directly up at him, "Meanwhile, I do have some questions about your… partner."

He led her to an office that was just as cold and dark as any other room in the castle. After shooing away her nurses they sat across from each other at an old wood table. She sat on a pile of books so she could see over the edge.

"I cannot understand most of what you sent me. It's very dense language. I'm fluent in English… but not _that_ fluent."

Eggman explained everything as best as he could to her.

"I see," Lourdes nodded, "I see why you demanded titanium needles. So, the severe overnight infection… she's never been sick before? Being so weak, I'm not surprised. Without her magic to heal her and having no real antibodies from never being sick before… sim. Basically everything was trying to kill her at once. The penicillin should help."

"I suppose so." Eggman dropped his gaze.

"I swear, I hate magic." She spat. "Science is so much easier."

"Mmm." Eggman agreed.

"Have you considered… therapy?" She looked at him with shining black eyes. "Both of you."

"Therapy?!" He guffawed. "That's a funny joke-" Then he saw she was serious. "Tilly doesn't remember what happened so it's not necessary."

"But you do, _sim?_ " Lourdes crossed her arms and leaned forward, "You look awful. You're tired and I can tell your blood pressure is through the roof just by lookin' at you."

"The world is ending and it's partially my fault and we are trying to keep our shit together in the meantime."

"What's new? You broke up the planet last time." She tilted her head and furrowed her brows.

"Tilly and Shadow are the only ones that can keep Armageddon at bay, currently."

"I don't care! Find time to see a therapist. I can recommend you some good ones." She winked, "Trust me! Mental health… just as important as physical. If you had any hair it would fall out!"

"You know," he was growing very annoyed with her, "I should have a warp ring somewhere. Let me find it for you." He turned to his gauntlet. "Orbot? Where is my warp ring?"

"Let me check." Orbot beeped. A few minutes later he responded back. "It's missing. It must've been put into a different storage area. Cubot will help me look."

 _It's always fucking something,_ Eggman thought.

"Since I'm staying over I want _moqueca de camarão_ for lunch!" The chinchilla grinned. "With a Pepsi!"

* * *

Eggman returned to the room with some cold ginger ale and an ice pack for Shadow who was curled up in the bed next to his witch. Orbot and Cubot were cleaning out the still-burning fireplace as quietly as they could, getting very sooty in the process.

"This is for your nausea," he handed the hedgehog the can, "And this is for the migraine." He placed the ice pack at the back of Shadow's neck.

Shadow sat up and carefully opened the can, wincing at the hiss it made, and sipped it. "Thank you, Doctor."

"Yeah." Eggman went to sit down in the wing-back chair without looking. He felt a shoe hit his backside for his troubles.

"Hey!" Silver pushed Eggman away with his boot and floated up into the air. "Careful! You almost squished me."

"Bah!" Eggman was uninterested in Silver's comfort. "Why are you still here?"

"Because the professor hasn't called me back yet." Silver descended slowly, landing silently on the stone floor.

"No, I mean here. Go bother Sonic." Eggman waved his hand.

"Shh." Shadow groaned. His head was still splitting.

"Sorry." Silver and Eggman said in unison.

"I'm babysitting," Silver whispered, "Plus I want to see Beans have her babies."

"Your priorities are strange. Just leave- Shadow and I need to talk. Privately."

"Alright, sheesh! I'll go play with Beans." Silver floated from the room and softly closed the door behind him.

Shadow let a quiet groan escape from his throat, but it was one of relief. "Ice packs for migraines, huh?"

"Yes- it restricts blood flow to the brain just enough to relieve the sharp pounding I'm sure you feel behind your eyes. I get my fair share of them; or I did."

"What did you want to talk about?" Shadow was grateful the room was always dark. He let the fizzy bubbles of the soda pop on his tongue before swallowing.

"Nothing. I wanted to get rid of Silver."

"Your first act of kindness." Shadow settled down. "I've never thrown up so hard that I've had a migraine…"

"Usually vomiting makes a migraine feel better." Eggman kept his voice low. "Maybe Doctor Cortés can bring you something."

"No, I don't trust her bag of goodies. Besides, my headache is going away."

Sheptilah stirred. She scrunched up her face before opening her eyes.

"What happened?" She spoke quietly, swallowing hard. "Am I finally dead?"

"Not even close." Shadow cracked a smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Well, shit." She let out a laugh. "What's it gonna take?"

Eggman jumped up from his chair and scurried over to her, pulling her IV drip to the side so as to not knock it over.

"Tilly," he stroked her head, "Baby; how are you feeling?"

"Mouth feels like it's full of cotton. Ivo? Is it night? I need to be laying out under the moon. I need to recharge."

"Moonrise isn't for several hours." He shook his head.

"Alright, I can wait. I want to shower, though." She fidgeted. "If that's okay."

* * *

The bath water was not nearly as hot as she would have preferred it to be but it was still a welcome sensation.

Shadow opted instead to talk to Silver about the wiccaphages in the future, his migraine nearly gone.

Clove was asked by Eggman to assist in bathing the woman. Sheptilah's arm leaned out the side of the porcelain tub to keep the IV line dry. Clove focused intently on her work, trying not to stare at the nude human.

"Why couldn't you just do this by yourself?" Tilly asked Ivo.

"I wasn't sure how disabled you would be." He shrugged.

Tilly held still while He washed her very greasy hair.

"You do heal fast," Clove cut through the uncomfortable silence, slightly mumbling, "All of your incisions are… gone."

"Shadow healed me." Tilly stared straight ahead at featureless stone walls. The castle was so dark that it seemed to absorb all light that came from the electric fixtures. The bathroom, though large and modern, still felt cold and uninviting.

"Are you alright?" Clove looked up at the witch whose eyes did not move.

"I feel like I'm being watched…" She didn't blink. "Something is here… something cold and dead."

"It's just us, mistress." Clove frowned.

"You don't have to call her mistress," Ivo sighed, "You can just call her by her name. Anyway, This castle is _hundreds_ of years old," Eggman cut in, "It's probably haunted or something." He laughed at his own little joke.

Sheptilah sat up and leaned forward, drawing her knees to her chest. "It feels familiar… like I _know_ it."

"I think you're just tired, love." Eggman let the term of endearment slip.

"Maybe." She sighed. She ran her fingers through her soapy hair and cringed when she remembered how long it used to be. She leaned forward so Ivo could rinse it, letting her face be submerged.

Her ribs stuck out under her skin, showing just how emaciated she had become in the time she was tortured.

Some bruises and cuts remained but the bulk of the injuries had been healed through Shadow's efforts.

"I wanted to apologize," Clove spoke quietly, "It's my fault you ended up this way."

The witch raised her head and looked at the distressed pronghorn. "It's not your fault," Tilly shook her head, "It would've happened regardless." She looked up at Clove and smiled, "Besides, when I was in the crystal it was worse. Five thousand years of staring at nothing. That was bad."

"Are you… sure?" She stared intently.

Sheptilah nodded. "Once I'm out under the moonlight I'll be okay, I promise! I'm also still going to help Cassia get better."

Clove's ears stood straight up. Sheptilah realized her mistake and bit her lip.

"Relax; I knew the whole time." Eggman reassured Clove. "However, if you try to make more deals behind my back you are going to be in serious trouble."

"Yes, sir." Clove responded.

"No, you're not." Tilly rolled her eyes.

"I was talking to _you_." He chuckled. "How am I supposed to be a strict tyrant with you undermining me?" He sounded hurt.

" _Quia de mea naturale eius debent._ " She stuck out her tongue.

" _Haec sit vera…_ " He blushed slightly.

Sheptilah turned to Clove again and sighed, "Seriously, you're okay. Don't worry."

"I... just want you to know I know Latin, too." Clove maintained a very stoic expression. She did not know why she revealed that she knew the dead language but immediately regretted that she did.

Sheptilah's face flashed crimson and she turned away.

"Of course," Eggman sighed, "Of course you do."


	66. Sun And Moon

The group of Mobians sat by the fire singing songs while Sonic played his guitar.

"Are you ready, Tails?" Sonic grinned. "Amy? Knuckles? Alright fellas, well let's go!" He was having the time of his life.

" _Oh it's been getting so hard, living with the things you do to me…_ " Knuckles sang along. Sonic pointed the neck of his guitar to whomever he wanted to sing next and aimed it at Rouge.

" _My dreams are getting so strange; I'd like to tell you everything I see._ " Rouge clapped in rhythm.

Sonic pointed to Sticks, who shook her head. "I don't know the lyrics!"

Amy leaned in and whispered into the badger's ears. Sticks responded deadpan: " _Oh, I see a man at the back as a matter of fact_ … A man!? Where?" Sticks jumped up and looked around. "Come out with your hands up!"

"No, those are the lyrics!" Amy sighed. Sonic kept playing, never missing a beat and grinning from ear-to-ear.

"I don't listen to recorded music!" Sticks' fur brustled. "It's full of subliminal messages! I like drums because all it is is THUNG THUNG THUNG, it's not actually-"

"What about Morse code in drum beats?" Knuckles thought out loud.

"I..." Sticks was flabbergasted. "Aah! You're right!"

"Calm down," Amy pulled Sticks by the wrist and forced her to sit down. "You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm."

"She's lively… I like her." Rouge smirked. "She'd make life in the barracks interesting."

"Or dangerous." Tails quipped.

"Hey, buddy," Sonic leaned in toward Tails, "I'm glad you're all better."

"Me, too! What's even better is I nearly finished that wiccaphage tracker! It was covered in snot but I did clean it off after the fact." He nodded to himself with pride.

"I don't wanna talk about those things right now," Sonic's face soured a bit but then became a half-forced grin,"I am glad about your doohickey, though! Maybe we're almost done with all this."

Rouge stuck a marshmallow on the end of a stick and browned it over the fire. "Shadow's doing okay. He says the Castle Snottingham is full of dogs and sent me photos."

"Silver won't shut up about the dogs," Sonic strummed the guitar absentmindedly. "If I get one more text about Beans I'm going to kick him in the tail. Unless the dog is finally having her puppies… then I want a play-by-play every three minutes."

"Ooh! Puppies! He should really get his dogs fixed, though." Amy put her hands on her hips. "But puppies!" She squealed.

* * *

" _Puta! Puta do caralho! Eu disse para nunca mostrar seu rosto aqui!_ " Thunderbolt hissed at Lourdes.

" _Não sou es médico_ , you asshole!" Lourdes spat back. " _A besta!_ "

" _Cale a porra da boca!_ "

"Oh, are you upset, you blonde _piriguete?_ " Lourdes taunted the other chinchilla. "Get a life."

The fight carried on in the main entrance of the castle. Lourdes' monkey assistants stood behind her ready to fight.

"Thunderbolt," Nephthys scolded, "Doctor Cortés is our _guest_." The tall vulture stood between the much smaller Mobians.

Thunderbolt's wires sparked and her body shook with rage.

" _Ele nunca vai o caralho! Tu vai estourar como um balão!_ " Lourdes shouted.

"That's it, she's toast!" Thunderbolt pushed past Nephthys' legs and tackled Lourdes.

"Hey!" Eggman came into the area. "What's going on!?"

"Lord Eggman!" Thunderbolt scurried to her feet and straightened her uniform. "This _puta_ insulted me!"

"I did no such thing!" Lourdes acted innocent. "She started it."

"Thunderbolt… come with me." Eggman sternly motioned for her to follow him.

"Y-yes sir!" The yellow chinchilla ran after him but not before throwing a smug look over her shoulder.

They walked together in silence down a very long, cold and dark hallway.

"I need you to understand something," he said quietly. "As you know, I am in a relationship with Sheptilah."

Thunderbolt's ears fell back a little.

"I've known of your romantic affection for me for a long time. You are one of my best Bosses and certainly my most loyal. However, I cannot have you acting this way. If you do not get yourself together I will be forced to lock your cybernetics and stick you in a closet somewhere while you starve to death."

She swallowed hard.

"I would never consider being romantically involved with a _Mobian_ , let alone one as small as you. It would be like making love to a crane machine toy."

"S-sir." Thunderbolt's eyes stung.

"I have wasted several _trillion_ dollars on you in the last two years alone. You've had two bases destroyed, multiple underlings murdered on your watch and you constantly threatening or undermining my girlfriend. It stops now, Thunderbolt."

Her chest tightened.

"The only reason she got captured and tortured by Nega in the first place was because nobody was manning your security cameras for outside or inside the base. Instead you instructed that everyone be at the party you threw for me. A party you planned in such a way as to make Sheptilah miserable. You think I didn't notice that all the pizza toppings were meat-based?"

His voice became more like the low growl of a predator ready to seize its prey. He stopped walking and turned to face the chinchilla.

"Sheptilah saved your miserable life out of kindness and you have shown her nothing but disrespect and violence in return, even after she became a fellow Egg Boss."

"Sir, she tried to kill you on one occa-"

"Your insubordination would have resulted in your very public execution a long time ago if it weren't for a severe lack of manpower I am left with due to both G.U.N. and the wiccaphages. You are a disgrace to the Eggman Empire."

A pause, and then: "This is your final warning, Thunderbolt."

"Yes, sir." She hung her head in shame.

"You're dismissed."

* * *

Tilly sat cross-legged in front of the fireplace and brushed Shadow's spikes with her fingers Silver sat nearby and played with a few corgi puppies. Orbot and Cubot changed the bedsheets while Metal Sonic stood in the corner observing. Sheptilah's IV line occasionally rattled due to her moving her arm too much.

"What's the future like?" Sheptilah asked the white hedgehog.

"Oh, uh, not a lot of animals around." He giggled nervously. "A lot of fire. It's a disaster."

"I can see why you're hanging out in this century, then," she grinned. "Lots of dogs for you to play with."

"They're so cute and fuzzy," Silver picked one up and nuzzled it, "So soft and warm! Like a cloud."

"Clouds are cold and misty." Shadow corrected him.

"Yeah, yeah," Silver enticed the puppies to chase his tail by wagging it, "Whatever. What's it like being a familiar?"

The puppies tried desperately to grab Silver's tail but it was no use; they were too small to keep up.

Shadow side-eyed the younger hedgehog and turned back to the fire. "It's a massive responsibility."

Sheptilah yawned. "It is, but it's also fun using magic."

"Is it much different than telekinesis?" Silver showed off by summoning a random book off of a shelf and had it drop near Sheptilah.

Shadow, using magic, put the book back. "Kind of."

"That's so cool! Glad I'm not the only hedgehog with tricks but if you ever need any pointers… I'd be glad to tutor you!" Silver smiled.

"He's fine, he's got me." Tilly finished pulling out the dead quills.

Eggman came into the room. "It's moonrise." He helped Sheptilah to her feet.

"Bye, boys. Be good-" She said as she was escorted from the room. Metal Sonic turned his head to face the two hedgehogs and stared.

Atop the castle battlements, Eggman had set up a romantic picnic area of blankets, pillows, food and lit candles flickering in the warm summer air.

The moon was huge and full, glowing brightly and reflecting off of the pristine moat that circled the castle.

"I had the chefs prepare you some good vegetarian dishes with Dr. Cortés' help. I've also handled many internal issues with the Egg Bosses so you will no longer have any problems." He poured them each a cup of red wine.

"Internal problems?" She sat down and ate some of the food from her plate. The flavors were robust and delicious, almost making her vomit from the sudden influx of nutrients. She managed to keep all of it down by chewing slowly and swallowing in small bits.

"Leave Clove alone." Her brows knit. "She is _not_ at fault."

"Oh, no, not Clove. _Thunderbolt_." He cut up his steak and greedily ate it in large mouthfuls.

"Hmm?"

"Thunderbolt is the reason you were captured in the first place. She intentionally weakened you by providing only meat-based food at the party and did not have anyone on security duty when that little green rat came in. I don't believe she was colluding with Katella or Nega, so it was just her jealous behavior." He sipped from his glass.

Sheptilah grunted with agreement and quickly changed the subject. "Thank you for allowing Shadow to hang around."

"I _like_ Shadow," He finished off his glass and poured himself another, "It's Silver I don't like."

She scooted so that she was next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too. I don't like waking up alone anymore."

For a while they sat in silence and enjoyed the quiet time together simply taking in the moonlight. Sheptilah herself felt much more energized and healthier. After eating she sat in his lap and leaned back, watching the stars slowly roll across the sky.

"I continue to be amazed by how much having you around improves my life." He kissed her cheek, lingering a little too long. "Finding you was so lucky. I'm blessed that the Universe brought you into my life and I never, ever want to let you go."

He pulled a small box from his pocket and placed it in her hands.

"What is this?" She opened it slowly, not sure what to expect. It was a solitaire diamond ring set in platinum.

"Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

"What?" Her heart skipped a beat.

"Will you marry me?" His hands trembled slightly despite his best efforts.


	67. Deer In The Headlights

"Ivo…" She paused. Her mouth felt dry and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. "I can't, Ivo."

"I'm sorry?"

"I can't..." She closed the ring box. "Ivo, I would but..." The velvet object felt heavy in her hands.

"No, I understand." He took it back, put it in his pocket and stood up. He made his way to the crenel and looked out at the grass swaying in the breeze.

"It's too soon," she sighed, "I almost died like a dozen times this month. I'm still recovering."

"Which is why I didn't want to waste any more time. You nearly died while you were laying in bed with me. You were quite literally rotting away beside me and I didn't even know."

"It happened so suddenly… it's not your fault." Sheptilah pulled out her IV as the bag was empty. The tiny wound healed instantly.

"Sheptilah," he turned to her and took off his glasses, "I love you and I don't want to spend another minute apart from you."

"In my culture marriage means you want to start a family." She stood and walked over to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her forehead on the back of his neck. "I know you don't want kids now but… it's a big deal."

"In _my_ culture marriage means the total devotion to only one other person. It is the legal and emotional contract between two people that swear to only love each other forever; or until they divorce. You are allowed to divorce." He mumbled.

"What about GUN? They're barely tolerating that we're a couple as it is and that's only because of Shadow."

"They don't have to know." He covered her hands with his, "It could be a secret."

"Hmm." She considered it. "A secret marriage."

"Yes! Nobody has to know except maybe your familiar."

"Yes, of course." She blushed. "A secret wedding is so romantic."

"It's called eloping." He turned to her and held her hands in his tightly and got down on one knee. "We can honeymoon wherever you like."

"What's a honeymoon?" She cocked an eyebrow.

"It's a vacation newlyweds take to celebrate. Usually it's somewhere exotic or secluded."

"Oh! In my culture that was just moving into a house together and spending time alone. We almost never left the ziggurat."

"We could go to the North Pole again. When it's safe, of course. Please." His heart beat against his chest like a caged bird. He was rejected by only one other woman and that was Lucinda. He was afraid he'd scare off this one, too.

"I love you dearly, Ivo. I just need some time to relax, but this isn't me saying no. This is me saying to ask me later." She pulled him up from his kneeling position and kissed him tenderly.

"Fair enough." He smiled.

"I really _did_ like the beard," she teased, "Please grow it back."

"If you loved it that much then I will grow the beard again," he held her tightly. "I'm sorry I sprung the ring on you…"

"Did you even ask Shadow?"

"Shadow? No, I wasn't about to ask your familiar if I could get permission to ask a grown woman for her hand in marriage."

"It's because you knew he'd say no, right?"

"Absolutely."

* * *

"Actually, I'd have said yes. She's a grown woman and she can make her own decisions. In my opinion, telling you no was the correct one." Shadow sucked on lemon candies, the sour balls clicking against his teeth as it rolled around his mouth. He continued to read a book by the light of the fireplace. This time it was Michael Crichton's _Eaters Of The Dead_.

Orbot, Cubot and Metal Sonic were all elsewhere patrolling the castle.

It was after moonset so the couple returned to their room to sleep. Sheptilah was too excited about the proposal and had to tell Shadow.

"Of course," Eggman rolled his eyes, changing into his pajamas. "This is between us; nobody else can know."

"I won't tell anyone, I promise." The hedgehog turned a page. "Unlike my witch I can keep secrets."

Sheptilah herself was in bed and reading a dusty leather-bound diary from one of the bookshelves in the master suite. Although it was written in very old English she could still understand it with the use of her stone's magic.

After a moment Shadow realized there was no snarky response. "Ti-ti?"

"This was written by a scullery maid... " She turned the ink-stained page very carefully. "Apparently she was a witch and had made friends with another maid who worked in the pantry. There was something called a pogrom and the pantler had to hide."

"Pogrom? That's a state-sanctioned slaughter of the Jews." Eggman got in bed next to her. "What happened?"

"I don't know…" She shook her head. "I haven't gotten that far."

"Hm?" Shadow put his book down and looked at the fireplace.

A parade of cats wearing flower crowns and holding baskets full of gold, scrolls and gems came one by one out of the fire. They laid their spoils around the room and awaited Cat Sidhe's entrance at which they kowtowed.

Cat returned with Sheptilah's athame in his teeth and dropped it at her feet on the bed.

"My athame!" She put the diary down and picked up the knife. "How did you find it? How did you know it was missing?"

"I am Cat Sidhe! That's all the explanation you need. All of this stuff was taken from your ziggurat."

Saying 'thank you' was a very hard reflex to suppress, but she barely managed. "Oh, Your Highness. This is wonderful. I thought I'd never have a proper athame again!"

"You are looking well, My Lady." He bowed slightly.

"Hello, Cat." Shadow seemed annoyed.

"Hello, dear familiar!" Cat was joyful and slightly sarcastic in his tone. " _And_ mortal." He turned to Eggman. "You're doing a fine job of caring for my friend."

"It's nice to have you back." Eggman admitted. "Why did you bring treasure?" He got up and poked through some of the baskets and picked up a fist-sized uncut sapphire. "Good heavens."

"I figured in for a penny, in for a pound!" Cat shrugged. "If you don't want it I'll be glad to keep it."

"No, no," Sheptilah held out her hand and patted Cat on his soft head. "I will not let your efforts go to waste.

Cat purred. "You can repay me by performing."

"Of course!" She summoned smoky images of mice dancing and performing tricks for the fairy cats. They allowed themselves to be chased around and even caught. One scurried up Shadow's leg and took a swan dive from his knee into the cobblestone and vanished.

The fairy cats were joyful, laughing and singing along with the little smokey rodents.

"Don't wear yourself out." Shadow warned.

"It's not difficult to make these," the mice changed to flowers that rained from the ceiling.

One of the baskets rattled and tipped over, spilling its contents. The cats hissed and focused their eyes on an unseen entity.

"There's that feeling again." Sheptilah exhaled, her breath visible.

The room grew frigid and frost formed on the objects farthest from the fireplace. Sheptilah dispelled her magic.

"Ghosts," Cat hissed, arching his back and his fur bristled, " _Lots_ of them."

Dim golden orbs that resembled fireflies flickered in and out of existence. A moment later the castle shook violently. Eggman held onto Sheptilah tightly. Shadow moved to the overlanders and got on the bed, hoping the canopy would be enough to protect them from any falling debris.

Cat's servants hightailed it into the fire and returned to the safety of their realm.

"We should teleport out of here." The hedgehog said.

"Do you even have the energy?" Eggman asked with genuine concern.

Shadow nodded.

"Earthquake!" MARI cried over the gauntlet. "A six-point-three on the Richter scale right off the coast of Plymouth!"

In another part of the castle Silver was playing with some of the corgis, including Beans. He picked up the dogs with his telekinesis and carried them to safety, throwing fallen masonry out of the way. Silver burst into the master bedroom to make sure everyone else was okay. He placed the dogs on the bed as gently as possible before forming a protective bubble above the canopy.

Ivo held onto Tilly and Shadow tightly until the tremors passed a few moments later.

"Lord Eggman!" Thunderbolt yelled from the gauntlet. "Are you alright?"

"We're fine." He responded. "What about the other Bosses?"

"We're okay." Akhlut said. "I'm with Nephthys, Clove and Cassia."

"Confirmed," Tundra said, "I am with Mordred and Axel."

"Orbot here," the robot said, "Cubot and I are hiding in a closet!"

"MARI, when is the next aftershock due?" Eggman asked.

"You know I can't calculate that! I'm just reading off of the news reports!" MARI was running with her 'sister' toward the castle. They had exhausted the warp ring and were deposited a few miles away.

"Forty-five seconds." White said, "Followed by another in five minutes of diminishing magnitude until it stops tomorrow morning."

"What? You just told me-"

"No! That was the white me. I'll explain later!" MARI disconnected. She turned to White. "How are you able to calculate that?"

"I'm not; I'm from the future." White scoffed. "Focus. I retained some of the weather data after Nega wiped my data banks."

"He wiped your data?!" MARI was _outraged_. That was the equivalent of a lobotomy for a droid.

"Why are you surprised?"

"I'm not _surprised_ , I'm fuckin' _pissed!_ "

* * *

They braced for the next tremors and survived them with no injuries. Objects on shelves were tossed about or broken but nothing of value was lost.

"Is it safe to get down?" Shadow felt claustrophobic squished between the two adults.

"The frost is gone; so maybe…" Cat sniffed around. "The ghosts are gone too."

"I knew this place was haunted…" Sheptilah muttered. "Someone is here and it's somebody I know…"

"They will not harm you," Cat reassured her, "Whoever it is, they are weak. However, be aware: they may gain power. You should apply salt around the bed and sleep elsewhere tomorrow."

"Certainly." Eggman nodded.

"I will return tomorrow." Cat rubbed up against Sheptilah's foot.

She giggled at the tickling sensation and lightly prodded the feline with her big toe. "I await your return, Your Highness."

* * *

"Beans is having her babies!" Sonic shouted. He jumped up from his seat by the dying campfire with his phone in hand. "Silver just texted me!"

Tails was roused from dozing off. "Oh?"

"Also there was a huge earthquake at Snottingham? Why did he not start with that?!" Sonic glared at the screen that lit up his face.

"Is anyone hurt?" Amy rushed over to Sonic's side.

"No, surprisingly. This means the wiccaphages are figuring out where the witch is." Sonic typed back in a hurry. "Aw, the quake scared the puppies out of Beans!"

"I don't really care about the puppies," Rouge said, "Shadow?" She spoke into her communicator.

"We're fine," Shadow said in a rather irritated tone. "Can't go a day without something catastrophic occurring but to be fair there is little damage to the castle and nobody is hurt. Although a dog went into labor after being frightened by the quake. Silver is flipping his lid- he's never seen a baby animal before."

Sonic's phone beeped. It was a picture of one of the first freshly cleaned puppy nursing.

"Aww," Sonic cooed, "So cute! It's the size of a potato! His name is Lentil!"

"Aww!" Amy's heart could've exploded from the cuteness. "I need a hundred of them!"

Beans would go on to deliver seven healthy babies: Lentil, Pinto, Fava, Garbanzo, Edamame, Lima and Arabica.

All had typical markings but Arabica: she had a white blaze of fur between the eyes that was topped with a crescent moon shape on the forehead.

Only two were born with tails while the rest had nubs like a typical Pembroke Welsh corgi. Mordred was very proud of his dogs and was secretly photographed holding some of the puppies with tears in his eyes.

The other Egg Bosses had come to see the puppies on their own time but weren't as interested. Silver spent the night sleeping near Beans and making sure she and her puppies were comfortable.

"In my time, Beans," he whispered to the dog, "Babies aren't born. People die or grow up in total ruin, but babies aren't born. Thank you for sharing that moment with me."


	68. Move Along

MARI sheepishly entered the castle with White in tow.

Eggman greeted her at the door with a scowl, arms crossed angrily against his chest. Sheptilah stood beside him with a blank expression.

"Mom. Dad." MARI grinned.

"Don't 'dad' me!" He howled. "I _told_ you not to seek her out!"

"But she's me!" MARI pleaded. "She agrees that she and I are the same and we-"

"MARI," he cut her off, "There is no way in Hell I am allowing you to bring that thing into this castle."

"I am here to serve you, Lord Eggman." White spoke calmly and did not make eye contact. "I am bound by my coding to serve you and only you."

"You 'served' Nega." He spat.

"In a time in which you had already died. My coding delegates that I serve your descendants, if any. Since you are not dead, and presently lack any such descendants, I return to your servitude."

"See?" MARI gestured toward her older self, "And she functions without using chassis! She's full of technology you could utilize!"

"She's a weapon." Sheptilah frowned. "As are you, MARI. How can we trust either of you? You disobeyed a direct order from Ivo not to bring her back."

"I am literally unable to break orders." MARI huffed.

"And yet here you are." Sheptilah narrowed her eyes.

"I wish you never learned English." MARI scowled. "I was told not to go seek out Nega's robots. This me is _your_ robot!"

"Give me a reason why I shouldn't stuff your bodies in a landfill and run a huge magnet over your brains in my lair's basement?!" He clenched his jaw so hard his teeth hurt.

"He treated her just as badly, if not worse. Doesn't she deserve to be reclaimed by you? Wouldn't that fucking piss off Nega?"

"You are the most ungrateful little brat!" Eggman yelled. "I'm going to melt you both down into toasters and then throw those toasters into the moat!"

"Ivo," Sheptilah side-eyed him, "Stop."

"Why are you like this!? You always yell at me even when you're not mad at me! You rarely say please or thank you when demanding things and hold me responsible for mistakes you make! You treat me like an object!"

"MARI, you _are_ an object."

"Ivo!" Sheptilah sucked in air between her teeth with a hiss. "You gave her feelings. She's not an object."

"She's metal and wires, not flesh and blood. Object." He dug in his heels.

If MARI had a throat she would've felt a lump form in it. If she had a heart it would've thudded painfully in her chest. If she had real eyes then very real tears would've fallen from them. She remained silent, head slightly lowered and stare fixed.

White took hold of her arm and ripped it out at the socket, bolts and chunks of metal hitting the cobblestone with a tinny clatter. She held out the appendage as a show of goodwill.

"This is the arm where my cannon is stored. Perhaps now you will feel less discomfort about my presence."

"I think she's telling the truth." Sheptilah nudged Eggman with her elbow.

Eggman hesitantly took the arm.

"Fine. I'm running a diagnostic test on both of you immediately."

* * *

Nobody could sleep after the earthquake or the supernatural activity. Sheptilah instead sat in the foyer on the throne reading the diary she had found.

Mordred was a bit angry that someone was in his seat but knew better than to complain. She was _real_ royalty, after all. A handful of Mordred's servants were pushing brooms around trying to look productive but weren't actually doing anything.

Eggman showered quickly, feeling self conscious about the spirits inhabiting the castle. He tried to concoct a plan for safely relocating all of his Egg Bosses. They may have to go to space, he thought. The space station may be the only safe place for them to live until the wiccaphages are dealt with.

Sheptilah pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Amy.

 **[Banana]** Would you be bothered if I sent you some gold?

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** What?

 **[Banana]** I have a lot of gold here that the cat fairies retrieved for me

 **[Banana]** And I need someone to take care of it until I get back to the island

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** okay I guess? Just send it to your hut I'll make sure it's safe

 **[Banana]** Thank you!

 **[Th!nkP!nk]** your English is amazing btw!

 **[Banana]** Autocorrect saves my life!

 **[Banana]** What is BTW?

Sheptilah got off the throne and went to the master suite. She tore open a portal to her hut, shoved all of the treasure through it and immediately closed it once she was done.

She then flopped onto the bed and stretched, exhausted.

Now relaxed, her thoughts began to wander, eventually settling on memories from her captivity. She remembered a bright, blinding light that made her eyes sting and the feeling of cold metal slicing at her torso. She sat up with a start and drew in deep, shaky breaths.

She shut her eyes tightly and thought about Hebat.

* * *

A typical day on the ziggurat was a hot, sunny one. Sheptilah, barely eight years old, ran around the farms to play with the animals. People greeted her warmly and offered her the occasional fruit.

She grabbed a green apple, thanking the farmer and happily munching on it like candy. She stopped among the grazing cattle and scratched one behind the ear, feeding it the apple core.

"You're so cute!" She cooed, "How could anyone eat you?"

The cow mooed with appreciation for the free scratches. After a moment it turned and pressed it's cold, wet nose to Sheptilah's cheek and then licked her face.

"Ew!" She wiped her face off with the back of her arm, "Cow kisses are not cute!"

Other cows closed in and nuzzled or licked her.

"No, no!" She laughed, "So ticklish!" She made her way out of the cow cuddle pile and caught her breath.

All of her hair stood on end and a cold chill traveled up her spine. She was face-to-face with a tiny pink Mobian. Her legs were covered in mud and her face stained with tears.

"Are you alright?" Sheptilah tilted her head. "Are you hurt?"

The armadillo sniffed, "I'm lost and I can't find my mom or dad! I wanted to play with the cows and I got lost!" She burst into heavy sobs. "Nobody will help me! They throw mud at me and call me names!"

"Don't cry!" Sheptilah hugged the armadillo, "It's okay. I'll help you find your mommy and daddy. I'm taller!" She stood on the tips of her toes, "See? I can see over the cows!"

"No, you can't!" Hebat wheezed, "You're still shorter than the cows!"

"I'm a lot taller than you," Sheptilah grinned, "What do your parents look like?"

"My daddy looks like me but my mommy looks like you."

" _Oh_." Sheptilah realized the problem. "You are a changeling; that's why people are so mean to you. That's ok, I'll help you find-"

"Don't call me that!" Hebat pushed her away, a claw accidentally cutting Sheptilah's torso.

The same wound appeared on Hebat's stomach.

"Ow!" Tilly cried. The wounds healed in seconds.

"You're… You're my witch!" Hebat took a step back.

"You're my familiar? It's you?" Her face lit up with a smile. "I've waited my whole life to meet you!"

"I don't want you to be my witch! You called me a bad word!" Hebat turned and ran off, feet squishing in the mud. "Leave me alone!"

* * *

"Tilly?" Eggman's voice snapped her out of it. "Are you okay? You're starfishing."

"What?" She sat up. "Starfishing?"

"It means you're spread out like a starfish and just staring at nothing. Are you okay?"

"Yes," she lied. "Just tired. I thought I was sitting up…"

Eggman scooped her up into his arms much like he did the day they first met. "Are you eating?"

"I haven't eaten in a while."

"Therein lies the problem." He grinned broadly, "No woman of mine is going to go hungry."

* * *

"Go bother Sonic." Shadow waved Silver away. "I'm sure he misses having you around to annoy him day in and day out." The Ultimate Life Form was trying his damndest to finish this book but the Universe was not having it today. He tried to sneak off to a library within the castle to read in peace but that somehow Silver found him anyway and tried to convince him to leave.

"I am not a bother to Sonic, we are friends. Besides- I'm supposed to be babysitting all of you and that's difficult when you're all spread out across the planet. The Professor still hasn't called me back to the future." The white hedgehog crossed his arms. "I don't know if I can trust any of you since you're all buddy-buddy with Eggman now."

"I don't really care what you think; but the truth is I am not friends with you or Eggman. Sheptilah is my witch and therefore my cosmic sibling. That means I am obligated to make sure she is okay. This is the law of the Universe, nobody else's. She is magically bonded to Eggman and so I am forced to be around him since my sister is, too."

"They're…" Silver blushed, looking at his toes. "They're a couple, though. She's not forced. They sleep in the same bed."

"'I'm not having this conversation with a _child_." Shadow turned to walk away.

"I'm not a child! I'm fourteen! I know where babies come from; I know what adults do. Jeez! They love each other, right?" _At least, I think they do at this point in the timeline, but that timeline changed,_ Silver thought. _They're not married, so maybe it's been changed by a larger margin than previously thought._

"You are a child."

"I'm an adolescent!"

"Child."

Books flew off the shelves and hit Shadow on the head. The black hedgehog turned around and growled.

"Silver." His voice dripped with deadly poison.

"I didn't do that!"

"Oh, really? Who else here has telekinetic powers but yo-" Shadow's words were cut off by other books, some very heavy, flying at him and Silver.

The white hedgehog grabbed the objects with his powers and grappled with an unseen force to keep them from hurting them.

"It's those ghosts again," Silver gritted his teeth, "They're strong now!"

"I hope it is ghosts and not wiccaphages." Shadow reached for Silver's shoulder and grabbed hold. He teleported them out to the throne room where it was safe.

"Let's find your witch so she can take care of this."

"I just need her athame. It should still be in their room." Shadow was determined to use his training.

* * *

"My fantasy for a long time was always something romantic. I always imagined I'd be given to a feared king in a far away land as a token of peace. I'd be carried there on a litter covered in silk curtains. I'd be dressed in a very thin pink gossamer gown, one that leaves little to the imagination."

She crawled into his lap and pressed her forehead to his.

"I'd be perfectly groomed and scented like the most delicate of roses. I would meet this king who silently approaches the litter and pulls back the curtain to see me lying there among silk pillows, judging me.

"He'd be totally taken with my beauty and orders the wedding to proceed at once. That night, among the stars, we'd vow to be each other's only love. He'd carry me to his room and gently lay me on the bed, not forcing himself on me."

"Yeah…?" Eggman furrowed his brow.

Her cheeks burned red.

"And then he would run his fingertips over my body, taking it all in. With my permission he takes my virginity with one strong, pleasurable thrust. After a night of blissful lovemaking he'd admit that he never intended to go to war or to hurt anyone. Myths of his kingdom were greatly exaggerated-"

"You have a lot of strange hangups about sex and I think Lourdes is right... you do need therapy." Eggman frowned.

"This was just a girlhood fantasy! It's still kind of sexy, though… not knowing-"

"There's nothing sexy about being _given_ to somebody you don't know." He ran his fingers through her hair. "At all."

"But it's a happy ending!" She defended.

"I much prefer _our_ story," he trailed his fingers up her spine, causing her to shudder, "We meet, fall in love over a year and make furious love for three days straight."

She felt his arousal through his pants.

"I do have to admit something to you… although I wasn't a virgin- you were the first man to penetrate me. The succubus was a shapeshifter but I never let her penetrate me like that."

"Really?" He blushed, "If you play your cards right you may just get penetrated again _right now_." He growled playfully.

"In front of the ghosts?!" She acted outraged. "Naughty."

"Oh yeah, this castle really _is_ haunted," he paused, "Yeah, sure, right in front of the ghosts why not." He pulled her into a passionate kiss and peeled off her clothes. "Every time I see you I fall more in love."

"That's my black magic." She teased. "Gods, I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

She pushed Eggman back on the bed and started to unzip his jacket. He rolled over on her and held her down by the wrists playfully.

She laid there with her eyes wide open like a deer in headlights.

"No, no, no!" She shouted without thinking, "No."

He got off of her immediately. "Honey? What's wrong?"

She panted. "I don't… I don't know." She sat up and brushed her hair out of her face. "I don't… I don't want to be held down right now."

"I'm so sorry." His heart hurt. "I understand. I should've known better."

She buried her face in his chest and breathed deeply to calm down.

He held her tightly. "I think you had a flashback."

"Why can't I remember anything?" Her whine muffled.

"I don't know," he lied, "Sometimes the brain blocks out bad memories. What did Lourdes call it? Psychogenic amnesia." He kissed her on the top of the head.

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, my love. Don't apologize."

"You want to try making love again but this time without the whole holding me down thing?" She smiled sheepishly.

"If you ever feel freaked out just let me know." His whiskers tickled her when they kissed and she'd stop occasionally to rub her nose.

A knock at the door. "Sheptilah? It's Shadow."

"The Ultimate Cockblock." Eggman muttered.


	69. Makin' A Move

Earlier that morning Eggman ran diagnostics on his two MARIs. Both turned up to be functioning normally except the white one who had, at some point, sustained massive damage to her chassis that he couldn't explain. The chips that served as her brains were tampered with without grace or care.

"It's like someone gave her a lobotomy with an ice pick," Eggman said to himself. Orbot and Cubot watched nervously while Metal Sonic stood by in the corner ready to defend his master if need be.

"Our poor sister," Orbot sulked, "It looks as if Nega took a rusty screwdriver to her."

"Yup, looks that way." Eggman removed some memory cards to see if he could extract anything off of them. He fed it into his computer only to have it be spat back out for being 'incompatible'.

"Damn encryptions." He held the disembodied head in his hand and looked at it. "Alas, poor MARI." He put the chips back in place and made sure the programming was completely debugged.

"How come _these_ robots are cute and we aren't?" Cubot huffed.

"Who says you aren't cute?" Eggman sounded a little hurt.

"Boss thinks we're cute?" Cubot leaned in eagerly.

"Don't get-" he held out White's face, "- _Ahead_ of yourselves."

"Gah! The gore!" Orbot hid his face behind his hands.

Eggman turned back to the head and smiled bitterly. "Her eyes are just as beautiful as the day I painted them. I ran out of one color blue so I just did the other in a darker shade and thought wow, she's unique. Each eye hand-painted by me in that heterochromatic pattern."

"So why does she look like a human?" Orbot sneaked closer.

"Because she interfaces directly with other people. Even if they know she's a robot, the fact that she has a human-looking face makes it easier to trust her." He smoothed her hair and reattached the head to the body.

He booted up both MARIs.

MARI stood and stretched. "Good morning!"

The white one simply stood with no greeting but noticed her arm was reattached.

"MARI, this is your big sister, KORin."

"Killer On Request dot Input. It's a joke: you input the name of the target to have them assassinated. I like that it sounds like the name Corrine. It means 'beautiful maiden.' Both Marie and Corinne are French names and I thought I'd keep with the theme."

"Marie means bitter sea." MARI huffed. "Her name is prettier!"

"Marie also means 'wanted child'." KORin corrected her. "MARI was my name, too."

* * *

"Come in." Sheptilah straightened her clothes even though she knew Shadow would understand what they were doing.

Shadow rushed in with Silver and slammed the door. "The ghosts are violent."

"It tried to trick Shadow into killing me!" Silver exaggerated.

"I wouldn't have killed you. Severely maimed? Possibly. But killed? No." Shadow's shoes clicked on the floor not covered by rug. "Where is your athame?"

Sheptilah pulled the weapon from her headspace. "Here."

"I'm exorcising these things." He reached for the athame only to have her pull it back at the last second.

"Haven't you learned from our trip in the catacombs? We can't just destroy ghosts without knowing anything about them." Her face painted with worry.

"Sure we can." Eggman reached for the knife.

Sheptilah put it back in her headspace with a motion that resembled her stabbing her own neck. "No."

"Those spirits did not hurt us. These ones here are lashing out violently."

"It's like watching a horror movie where you're screaming at the actors to get out of Dodge but they just won't leave! Except I'm in it!" Silver said. "The youngest always dies first! That's going to be me!"

"Silver, Eggman is the youngest here." Shadow pointed out.

"Wait, yeah you're right," the white hedgehog breathed a sigh of relief, "He _is_ the youngest!"

"Aren't you negative two hundred years old? How do you get younger than that?!" Eggman spat.

"Boys!" Tilly stood up, extremely agitated and shaking. "Stop. Shadow, where is my staff?"

"It's under the bed." He pointed.

Tilly sighed and got on her knees to grab it. She pulled the thing from the piles of dust that gathered under the furniture and brushed it off when she got to her feet.

"I'm still too weak. I will have to charge for another night before I can do anything with the spirits."

"The…" Eggman searched his words carefully, " _Notes_ Nega took mention that artificial moonlight is good enough to charge you, too. It's diluted sunlight. Put a mesh over a sunlamp and that will zap you up like a battery."

Sheptilah's eyebrows knit together. "I don't remember…"

* * *

Sheptilah laid on her side in the dark bedroom with her staff in her arms. She faced a sunlamp with some cloth over it to provide as a filter to simulate the amount of UV rays that would normally be reflected from a full moon on a clear night.

"I could probably do something like this with a tanning bed. Keep you charged up forever!" Eggman sounded excited. "No more waiting for night."

"Why do you even have this contraption?" Shadow crossed his arms.

"Sometimes I need a boost of vitamin D." Eggman shrugged. "Also, sometimes I get psoriasis flare ups. The UVB helps with that."

"Fair enough." Shadow admitted.

"Why this room and not another? This one seems to have the worst haunting." The white hedgehog stretched.

"This is the only room besides the bathrooms that doesn't have surveillance cameras." Eggman stated matter-of-factly.

Silver paused for a moment before breaking eye contact, having realized the implications.

"Yup. That makes sense. Mhm." He shuddered, turned around and stifled a slight gag.

"Oh, for God's sake, Silver." The Overlander huffed, "It's because unlike _you_ I'm not naked all the time and I change my clothes often."

"Ivo, you have just as much fur as they do." Tilly joked.

"Except on his head." Shadow quipped.

"I hate all of you." Eggman frowned.

"You're not still mad at MARI, are you?" Tilly spoke up.

"Nah, all is forgiven." Ivo smiled.

"She called me mom." She closed her eyes.

"She was just being cute." He shrugged.

"Something about it made my skin crawl."

"Just rest and don't worry about that. These little hedgehogs are gonna protect you from the ghosts while I go finish up some other work around this base." He shuffled out of the room to attend to MARI and KORin.

Sheptilah sighed and covered her face with her arms.

"What was it like being asleep for five thousand years?" Silver leaned in.

"I was awake for most of it."

"Oh. So can you and Shadow, like, read each other's minds?"

"No, but we do share a sense that lets us know when the other is upset or happy." The black hedgehog was almost completely invisible in the dark.

"Man, being connected to Shadow must suck. He's always grumpy!"

Sheptilah sat up and stared coldly at Silver.

He stepped back. "S-sorry… I'm saying all the wrong things today."

Shadow smiled smugly.

"Only I get to call him grumpy." She stuck out her tongue.

Shadow frowned.

"Can I ask you something, though? For real?" The white hedgehog sheepishly approached her.

She laid back down and closed her eyes. "Yes?"

"Did you pick Shadow and does he use his own magic or yours?"

"Are you jealous?" She smirked.

Silver's cheeks tinged red and he huffed. "I'm just used to being the only one with powers like that, is all."

"The Universe picks witch and familiar pairs. We have no say in the matter, it just happens. He uses his own magic but I had to boost him last year so he could get it flowing. Something was gumming him up. Kind of like a plug?"

"We think it's the Chaos powers I have." Shadow sat on the edge of the bed. "Ti-ti can't touch the Chaos Emeralds without being severely hurt. It's the same with the wiccaphages but it outright kills them. Even being around the Emeralds is enough to be disastrous for either."

"Must be nice having family again." Silver sounded wistful.

"What about your family?" Tilly was perkier from being under the light.

"Parents died a long, long time ago. Well, a long time from now but you know what I mean. I didn't even know them. I've always been homeless in one way or another. In the future the whole planet is a burning war zone. No matter how many times I come to the past to fix problems it always ends up the same." The little white hedgehog cast his eyes down and stared at his shoes.

"I'm sorry. Well, you're not alone: most of us here don't have living parents for one reason or another." She thought of Cassia and Clove. "Or are actively losing family members."

"It's okay, I've always got hope. Maybe this time things will stick." He forced a smile.

After a while under the lamp Sheptilah became somewhat manic. She asked Orbot and Cubot to bring Eggman and to escort Shadow and Silver elsewhere for the time being.

Shadow, slightly disgusted, urged Silver to go check on Beans and her babies. "Maybe we should check on Sonic, too. He seemed very shook up by the corpses he saw. Again."

"Yeah, you're ri-" Before Silver could finish his sentence Shadow teleported them both to the island.

Eggman came into the room just missing the hedgehogs' exit by seconds. "You called? Are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay," she turned off the lamp. "Come here, lover boy."

"I'm sorry?"

"Come on, we'll finish what we started earlier." She beckoned for him to come to the bed and took off her clothes.

He obliged and unzipped his jacket, crawling over her.

"Nuh uh," she grinned mischievously and slid out from under him. She flipped him over and straddled him.

"I'm guessing the lamp worked."

She closed the curtains on the bed with magic and reveled in the darkness lit only by her eyes and Oracle Stone. "Oh, yes. It's no silk litter but it'll have to do." She briskly pulled down his pants, exposing his already hard cock.

With her hands on his hips she slowly dragged her tongue up the base of his length to the tip. He shuddered with pleasure and a quiet moan escaped his lips.

She took the whole cock into her mouth and rolled her tongue over the tip, teasing him. She then massaged his hips and thighs with her warm hands while she continued to suck and lick at varying speeds.

Although Eggman was usually a very quiet lover he would occasionally moan out words like 'baby' and 'that's hot' to encourage her.

She loved it. Sheptilah would stop sucking for a moment to tempt him with the tip of her tongue up and down his cock, taking the occasional detour to his balls and gently suckling on the soft flesh while pumping with her hand.

"You're such a t-tease." He complained.

She chuckled, mouth full. Her free hand squeezed his ass.

"Who taught you this?" He groped in the dark for her scalp and held on tightly but not painfully.

She grinned playfully and took his length back into her mouth and deepthroated it. With magic she searched for the little organ deep within his hips. When she found it she gently squeezed it.

Ivo cried out with pleasure, his orgasm twitching in her mouth. She swallowed the load without question or flinching and didn't even taste it.

His head swimming, Ivo breathed deeply as to steady himself. His body was hot and tingly, every nerve alert and firing.

"I see why you like each other." A familiar voice spoke right into Sheptilah's ear.

She turned, alarmed but dick still her mouth, to the figure that was Scourge's grinning face poking through the curtain.

"So I was right, he _does_ have a big dick!" Scourge threw back the curtains.

Sheptilah spat out Eggman's cock and threw a pillow at the specter only to have it go right through him.

Eggman didn't fully register what occurred since he was still in the throes of pleasure. His head cleared when he heard her shouting and he sat up.

"Dude, she's a keeper. You better wife this demon." Scourge teased. "'Sup, bitches? I'm back."

"Begone! Leave!" She shouted. Her face was a mixture of fear and anger tinged with regret.

Eggman hid his shame with a pillow. "Scourge?!"

"The one and only! I saw the whole thing by the way. She could be a porn star." He floated off the floor, the room visible through his specter. He appeared to be dressed the same as when he died. Although his scars were still visible his head was whole.

"I thought it was Katella bothering us this whole time, not you!" She snapped her fingers, putting her clothes back on with magic.

"That's 'cuz I'm fucking _pissed!_ " Scourge spat. "Real fucking pissed."

Sheptilah hopped off the bed and grabbed the staff. She pointed it squarely at Scourge. "Go."

"I can't fuckin' 'go', you dumb fuck. I'm stuck here. I'm fucking stuck to you."

"I'm haunted?!"

"It took me all this time to fuckin' figure out how to move shit and actually appear but yeah. I'm fucking stuck to you. Thanks a whole fucking lot. By the way I'm not the only fucking ghoul here, either."

"We know the castle is haunted in general!" Eggman zipped up his pants.

"Oh, yeah. Fuckin' shithole is crawling with them. I figured out how to do shit by copying them." Scourge adjusted his coat, "I really want a fuckin' cigarette."

"So if you're stuck here because of me... you're stuck with me wherever I go," Sheptilah was thinking aloud. "You didn't get a proper burial and had a violent death… you're stuck here indefinitely."

"That's right, you dumb fuck!" The room's temperature dropped twenty degrees and the lit fireplace was extinguished. "You fucking murdered me then let them just throw rocks on my corpse in the desert. Fucking Katella got a real burial because she had a real family. What the fuck did I get?! I got fucking _nothing!_ "

Sheptilah lowered her staff.

"I saw you shed those crocodile tears, pretending you were mourning me. It's sick. It's performative. It's fucking lip-service. And to fucking have your pussycat friend fucking lie that the fucking gem in your chest controlled you and has its own sentience and was the one that really killed me to absolve your guilt-"

"What?" She dropped her staff. It landed with a hollow, echoing clatter.

"Yeah. Fuckin' lying that you're not one person but two people." The temperature continued to fall and frost formed on the furniture.

Eggman dove under the comforter to escape the chill.

"What kind of made-up bullshit is it to say oh my stone is alive! But I never told my host! It's a secret, shhh!" he mocked her.

"Stop!" A strange voice came from the stone itself. The sound was like that of remembering someone's voice but not quite doing so correctly.

Sheptilah, wide-eyed and shaking from the cold and shock, fell to her knees and held her hands over her mouth.

"It's true, Sheptilah," the voice spoke. "You were never alone. I am alive. I did not want you to know but you cannot unring a bell. It was I that made the decision to execute Scourge and I do not regret it. I only regret the effect it has had on you and I am sorry."

"Scourge, you asshole!" Eggman shouted from under the blankets.

"That's _King Asshole_ to you, human." The green hedgehog's mouth was curled into a snarl.

MARI, KORin, Orbot, Cubot and Metal Sonic rushed to the door to the bedroom and saw it was frozen over. Frost crept out across the stone and touched MARI's toe. She pulled her foot back only to have that part of her foot crumble off like stale bread.

"What's going on!?" Nephthys happened to be wandering the halls when she saw the robots were congregating.

"I got an emergency trigger from the gauntlet when the temperature dropped seventy degrees out of nowhere," MARI and the other robots backed away from the frost.

Metal Sonic argued with the other robots over whether or not to blow the door down. Entire essays beamed between them concluded that they shouldn't due to it possibly unleashing whatever was causing the cold.

Scourge's ghost grew tired from exerting so much energy just to be visible. The room's temperature became normal and the frost melted. The green hedgehog's eyes turned sunken and dark. He looked at his hands as they turned more transparent before he vanished again completely.

Sheptilah's heavy, shaky breaths hid the fact that she was communicating telepathically with her Stone in much the same way the robots did: within seconds entire conversations were had between them.

Nephthys kicked in the door and hurried over to Sheptilah and knelt beside her. "My lady, are you alright? What happened?"

"My sins caught up with me," the human leaned into the vulture's shoulder, "Hell is cold."


	70. Everlong

Shadow had teleported himself and Silver directly outside Sonic's shack. Shadow walked in without ceremony and plopped down on the sofa. Silver followed suit but was uncomfortable with just barging without so much as a hello.

Sonic was singing _very_ loudly in the shower and was unaware he had an audience.

" _Goddamn! See you licking frosting from your own hands! Want another taste, I'm begging, yes ma'am! I'm tired of all this candy on the dry land, dry land, oh!_ " Sonic paused for a second, likely to grab some shampoo to work into his spines. The truth was while he was letting the spine conditioner set his hand was busy elsewhere while he thought about the twins Perci and Staci. Well, mostly Staci. It was a dumb, unrequited crush on the bandicoot but _damn_ did she look good leaning over whatever doohickey she was taking a wrench to.

Silver had so bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

"Doo doo doo... " Sonic forgot where he left off and just skipped to the bridge. " _Talk to me, baby!_ " He switched to a very strange falsetto.

" _I'm going blind from this sweet craving, whoa-oh! Let's lose our minds and go-_ can't say that word- _crazy! Ah ya ya ya ya I keep on hoping we'll eat cake by the ocean!_ "

"You are allowed to say fuck in your own house." Shadow called.

Sonic let out a shrill scream. The next sound was the squeaking of the faucet, the shower head being turned off and Sonic dashing into his living room soaking wet and soapy wearing a towel.

"Get out of my house!" His cheeks were red.

Shadow crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees. "I'm here for your wellness check."

"What was that scream?" Silver was in the kitchen helping himself to some soda from the fridge, a sharp grin across his face. "I hope you don't mind?" He held up the can.

Sonic nearly jumped out of his skin as he didn't notice Silver was there, too.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" The blue hedgehog caught his breath. "Don't you knock?!"

He dashed back into the bathroom, shook off the water and suds and came back into the living room wearing his shoes and socks.

"Knock on what?" Silver said. "You don't have a door."

"I don't need a wellness check. What are you really here for?"

"The humans are being gross so we left the castle." Silver guzzled the drink. "Ah… that's good stuff." He smacked his lips and savored every drop.

"Also there are some very violent ghosts but that doesn't seem to deter their romance." Shadow scratched his eyebrow idly.

"Ew." Sonic shuddered.

"She's almost totally recovered, however, so she should be coming back to the island soon. Just in time, too. The wiccaphages triggered an earthquake not far from the castle. Is Tails done with his tracker?"

"Just about." Sonic frowned, "And I'm fine. You don't need to babysit me."

Suddenly Shadow stiffened up and his ears ears stood erect. His eyes wide and pupils tiny.

"Shads?" Sonic leaned in.

After a moment he slammed his eyes shut and shook his head. "Scourge is back."

"How? Dude's head was…"

Shadow cut off Sonic. "As a ghost."

"Oh that's great. Just… great." Sonic stomped around his hut angrily. "That's fantastic!"

"And my witch is haunted by him, not the castle. He's gonna go where she goes until something is done."

"Oh that's just _beautiful_." Sonic curled up into a ball and rolled out of his hut. He then proceeded to run around the island at the fastest speed he could and circled it sixteen times. That is exactly how long it took for him to run until he stopped being angry. All in all it was only about five minutes.

He walked back into his hut all sweaty and panting.

"Are you done with your hissy fit?" Shadow looked back at him.

"I'm going to take another shower and I want you two out!"

"Do you take song requests?" Silver grinned.

" _Out!_ "

* * *

"I am actually… happy about Rabisu's presence." Sheptilah stood as close to the re-lit fireplace as she could. "To know I was not alone even in the crystal."

 _You were never alone…_ Rabisu responded as a voice in her head. _I was always with you. We only left one set of footprints in the sand but I was always within you and always will be._

"They worried you'd be upset." Eggman stood next to her sipped a cup of coffee with Irish cream. It wasn't nearly as alcoholic as he needed it to be.

"I am but I'm also relieved."

Eggman finished off his drink and smacked his lips. "So technically this is a threesome."

Sheptilah playfully swatted his upper arm with the back of her hand, "Ivo!"

"What?" He grinned. "I'm glad you turned down my marriage proposal: bigamy is illegal in most places."

She laughed, "Since when does the law stop you?" She rubbed her nose with her palm, "Thank you for keeping Rabisu's secret as they asked of you and Shadow. I'm a little mad you didn't tell me but I'd be madder if you did ."

"We figured that if we spilled the beans your Stone would just erase the memory of that. Come on, pack your stuff- we're going back to the island."

"No, we should stay here a bit longer," she held his hand, "I don't want Scourge being too close to other people if he is a full-on poltergeist. I'll have Shadow bring me the royal grimoire so I can figure something out."

"Okay, if that's what you want." He leaned in and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you, love." She stared at the dancing flames. "I did read more of the diary."

"Oh?"

"Yes. The two girls helped each other. Both witchcraft and Judaism was punishable by death so they worked together to keep their families safe. They practiced in secret and I guess they fell in love? I'm not sure."

"So two girls, a witch and a Jew, fall in love in Medieval England? This ought to end splendidly without any bloodshed or tears." Eggman said sarcastically.

"That's just it, though… the diary cuts off abruptly. It mentioned something about moving stones and fire but so many pages are missing or badly damaged."

"I guess we'll never know." Eggman scratched his chin. Letting the beard grow in was making his face itch and driving him a little crazy.

Sheptilah gazed at the fire and saw sometimes the flames in one corner flickered erratically. She approached the fire, nearly walking into it and unbothered by the heat.

"Tilly?"

She looked down in the ashes and saw a little hole in the pile that resembled an anthill. With a wave of her hand she extinguished the flames and moved all of the ashes aside. She stepped boldly on the hot stones and crouched down.

"What is it?"

"There's a door here." She stepped back and lifted the very heavy rock with magic and gently set it aside. A cold, damp breeze blew up a set of unworn stone steps.

"How daring… the girls built their escape route in the king's room."

"Maybe they didn't. Many castles had escape plans for the royals to use. This could be one of them."

"No, look." She created a will-o-the-wisp to light the way. Down along the steps were runes engraved into it that would have looked like idle scratchings to someone who was not a witch. Eggman set down his cup and cautiously leaned in.

"It's a map and I can read it, or rather, Rabisu can. They can read the energies left behind by the person who put them here." She disappeared down the steps.

"Wait!" Eggman followed after her, "It could be dangerous!"

"You're right. You should stay here."

"That's not what I meant!" He shuffled down the steps, "Crazy woman."

"Who's crazier? You or me?" She laughed. "I'll protect you."

" _I'll protect you,_ " he mocked, "Didn't you almost die two days ago?"

"The point being I am not dead yet!"

* * *

They followed a long and winding path that seemed to circle the castle grounds under the moat as evidenced by moss and water dripping from the ceiling. Although they passed some old, rotting wooden doors. Eggman peered into these rooms and noted some led nowhere, were empty or had crumbled with time. Sheptilah followed the scratched map exactly and came to what looked like a dead end.

"So, nothing?" Eggman pouted. He had secretly hoped for some treasure.

Sheptilah held the wisp to the wall and looked for a clue. What looked like a finger with a long nail was scratched into a stone near the floor.

"Aha!" Sheptilah dragged her finger down the stone and opened a portal that led to the other side.

She stepped through it and saw they were in what looked like a chapel. One side resembled her apothecary and the other was immaculately neat with a large, old scroll spread open across a bimah. Sheptilah approached it and looked over the object without touching it.

"Hebrew text," she said, "Ah, what's it called… Something with a 'tor' in it."

"It's a Torah. There should be a yad nearby."

"A what?"

"A yad is a pointer. Don't touch the scroll with your hands." Ivo stood next to her.

"I wasn't going to. Paper this old could crumble just by looking at it too hard."

"Don't touch it with magic, either." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Torah scrolls are always stored standing up in a pouch. If this is on its side then something must've happened here during a ceremony. It would never be stored this way."

"Why would they hide their diary among the king's books? That's been bothering me." She frowned.

"Ah that castle's been remodeled a ton of times. It's possible all the old, untranslated books were just stored in there and ruined during movement."

"You're right - we had to leave in a hurry." A voice said.

"Hello?" Eggman backed up.

"Shalom!" A different voice responded. "We tried to help you both earlier but something happened with a poltergeist. He made it hard. We're glad you're okay!"

"Shalom…" Ivo responded reflexively. "Are you the spirits talked about in the journal?"

"Yes, we are!" The visions of two young women in rags appeared before them.

"I am Esther, the Jewish one." She identified herself, waving.

"I'm Thisbe, the witch." The other waved. " _Hū ȝǣþ?_ "

" _Ha-Makom yinachem etchem…_ " Ivo said.

"No, no," Esther waved him off, "This is no place for mourning. We're happy here!" They approached the two humans. "We died at the ripe old age of thirty-three of illness like everyone else."

"How do you know modern English?"

"We picked it up floating around. We watched the language evolve in real-time, you know. Sometimes I still have a habit of tidying up after people. I do love what you've done with the place!" Thisbe grinned.

"We knew the earthquakes were coming so we tried to warn you. The presence of the other spirit made that difficult because he wanted to let you die. We apologize for letting him frost over the room twice." Esther sighed softly. "Sometimes angry spirits just absorb all of the heat."

"If you're happy why are you still here? Shouldn't you be with your families?" Tilly frowned.

"We're protecting this place." Esther went up to the Torah. "The whole castle and this temple."

"Why is this still out?" Eggman pointed to it.

"If I touch it it becomes unclean." Esther shrugged. "It's driven me crazy for centuries now."

"I can put it away for you." Eggman nodded. "Where's the ark?"

"East is in this direction." Thisbe pointed. "We never had an ark for it; it was just propped up. We didn't have a lot of options for down here, you know?"

Eggman gingerly rolled up the scroll and placed it against the designated wall.

Esther sighed quite loudly with relief. "Thank you! That was _so_ annoying!"

"You're most welcome." Eggman grinned. "Seems like we're helping ghosts out a lot lately, huh, Sheptilah?"

Thisbe hugged her wife and kissed her. "See? I told you it would eventually go back where it belonged."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" She laughed.

"Ah, fuck you." Scourge said.

Their good mood was ruined.

"Scourge! This is a holy place," Tilly scolded him.

The hedgehog's ghost became visible. "Hmph!" He crossed his arms defiantly.

"You again!" Esther pointed. "Go away!"

"I can't 'go away', I'm stuck to this one." He pointed with his thumb at Sheptilah.

"We'll leave you be, now. Glad we could be of help." Eggman put his hands on Tilly's shoulders.

The girls bid them farewell and Sheptilah left with Eggman by tearing open a portal directly to the bedroom instead of walking in the damp corridors.

"You guys suck." Scourge huffed.

"What do you want from me?" Tilly closed the portal and put the stone back in place. "I wouldn't have killed you if I could help it."

"Oh, it's not related to that, you guys just suck. Had I been you I would've asked for something in return." He looked around, "Hey! Where'd all the loot go?"

"My house," Tilly walked through him to relight the fire, "Where it will stay."

"Whatcha gonna spend it on?"

"Oh, I don't know," she rolled her eyes, "Getting you exorcised?"

"You can't pay me off! You can try, though. By all means, throw money at me."

Eggman scoffed. "You have no right to be angry with her."

"Don't get me started on you!" Scourge howled.

Sheptilah looked at the ring on her right-hand pinky finger. She looked at her left hand where her pinky was.

"I'm sorry, Scourge. I will bury you properly."

"Good. I want a king's feast and to be sent off like a viking! I also want lots of pretty women mourning me and-"

"Scourge. I'm just going to bury you. Ivo, I'll be right back."

"Will you be okay?" He was worried.

"I have my phone, I'll be alright." She kissed him on the lips and opened a portal to the ruins of Nega's ship.


	71. Higher Love

It was early morning in the desert and the sky was lit up with twinkling stars that dotted the Milky Way above them. The wisp followed above Sheptilah to illuminate the way as she crossed the sands. A freezing breeze blew by, chilling her to the bone. With a snap of her fingers she was cloaked in the sealskin cape and felt warm again.

She trudged around looking for the cairn left by the Zone Cops. They buried the corpse a fair distance from the downed ship but it was easy to spot among the very flat terrain.

"Here I am." Scourge floated over the pile of stones. "Not my best look."

One by one Sheptilah pulled back the stones and revealed the crushed but undecayed Mobian body.

"Looks like that spell I placed worked." She frowned.

"Spell?"

"Shadow thought it was a prayer, and it sort of was, but I had made it so your body wouldn't rot or feasted on by animals until it could be properly cared for." A thin layer of dirt covered the bulk of the gore.

Scourge looked away from his body.

Sheptilah gently lifted the headless corpse and carried it in her arms as gingerly as anyone would for a living person. She walked toward the ziggurat in the distance.

"I've killed before," she said to break the silence, "But never a child."

"I'm not… I wasn't a child! I was seventeen!"

"You're a kid, is what I'm saying. An adolescent. I've never executed anyone under the age of thirty before."

"So who all have you killed?" He was darkly interested.

"Two pedophiles, two murderers and one person who abused their familiar so badly they committed suicide as a result." She stared straight ahead, eyes tightly fixed on the pyramid.

"Great motley crew of assholes you lumped me in with." Scourge groaned, floating behind her.

"Yeah, well, they were beheaded at the top of the ziggurat so that their heads would be mush by the time it tumbled down the steps to the bottom. I hated it every time but it got easier to do; especially since I stopped missing cuts."

"How the fuck do you miss beheading someone? They weren't a moving target."

"I don't know! It's not like they had me practice or anything. My moms just woke up one day and said it was time I executed someone as acting queen. I was thinking, what the fuck, right? And I missed and chopped part of the dude's skull off but he was alive. He was drugged, though. He didn't feel a thing."

"You are so bad at everything you do except sucking dick."

"You keep acting up and I will drop your body in a sewage trench."

"Okay, okay, I'll behave. Hmph."

"Anyway," she carried on, "We cremated these people. To us it was the most heinous thing you could do to a corpse. Some of the people who lived with us at the pyramid were used to it as a cultural thing but not in our root culture. We buried our worthy dead under the ziggurat as a way to show our ancestors hold us up."

"Scatter my ashes to the winds, man. I don't even give a fuck anymore. I just hate that I don't get my own fuckin' pyramid or whatever. I'm also pretty pissed that I'm a ghost but I still have these goddamned scars! At least I have a head."

"I saw into your memories and noticed that you lied about the nature of those scars."

Scourge, caught off guard, stuttered. "Whatever. When did you see into my memories!?"

"When you were dying and I gave you my blood to heal you. I pressed my forehead to yours and saw everything."

"When did you do this?"

"After dropped you at my feet covered in a silver tape. You had broken ribs and internal bleeding."

"Oh, that fucking shit!" He flashed a scowl, "That was that MARI bitch with Shadow and Sonic. They fuckin' ganged up on us and Korny or whatever her name is left me to die!" He quieted down.

"What?"

"I thought Nega had saved me with his future tech shit. I didn't know it was you, but I should've figured."

"I genuinely didn't want to kill you, Scourge. I'm sorry it came to this." She walked up the steps of the ziggurat.

"Well… I'd have done the same thing in your shoes without question. I guess I'm glad it was another royal and not some scrub or whatever."

She scaled the pyramid in silence after that. She was sweating and tired after the trek and stopped for a moment at the summit to rest.

"I can't figure you out," she said to break the silence. "You are so abrasive and at the same time you were a little protective."

"I'm sorry?"

"You absolutely refused to let me get sold into sexual slavery by Katella. You tried up and down to convince me to go on your side."

"Yeah, 'cause I wanted to use your power. Not because I cared or anything." He sat next to her with his arms crossed.

"I forgive you, you know." She smiled gently.

"You're a huge dumbass to forgive all of that." He flopped onto his back.

"I don't care. I am forgiving you for my sake, not yours. All in all… all I am missing is a pinky finger."

"And your hair."

"Hair grows back. It's already longer today than it was yesterday."

"Is that what it means to be a king or a queen? Forgiving?" He laid on his side.

"Yeah," the sun was rising and the sky became lighter but the stars still twinkled defiantly. "It does."

He sat next to her, almost touching. "Is there any way I could come back to life?"

"No. You never come back the same way… it's always worse." She frowned.

With a sigh she stood up and walked toward the center of the plateau and laid the body down on it. "There's so much you can do in death. So many places to visit and people to meet."

"All this time I thought death was like, nothingness. So what makes life so fuckin' precious if death is bigger? Why would you feel guilty about killing anyone?"

"You'll understand soon why we fight tooth and nail to stay alive. There's a hunger that can never be sated and a thirst that can never be quenched. You can't feel the warmth of the sun on your skin anymore."

"Death is kinda great," Scourge put his arms behind his head, "Nothing hurts anymore."

He looked at the sunrise and smiled. "I never really stopped to watch the sun come up before. There's always another day, huh?"

"Life goes on."

"And I'm going to burn like that star," he reached out for it. "Bright and hot! I'm ready to be the sexiest pile of ashes on Mobius!"

"Are you sure?" She turned to Scourge who was standing beside her.

"Yeah, let 'er rip. Light me up!"

With a snap of her fingers Sheptilah summoned a burning flame and let it drop on the body. It caught fire almost instantly but the flame burned slowly, taking several hours to leave nothing but a pile of ashes and some bits of metal from his jacket.

The smallest cinders floated away in the breeze. Some glowed like fireflies while others took on the appearance of snowfall.

"Don't cry," he tapped her shoulder with his fist.

She wiped a tear off of her cheek. "I didn't even realize I was…"

"Time for me to go mack on some hot dead chicks." Scourge adjusted his coat, "Hasta la vista, baby!" He slowly disappeared into nothingness.

A weight felt like it was lifted from her heart. She sat cross-legged by the remainder of the ashes and watched them get carried off in the hot air across the horizon. The white sun shone and made the sky a pale blue.

She dried her tear-stained and sweaty cheeks on the edge of the cloak and stood. Amends were made and life could go on for the living.

"Actually, I changed my mind-" Scourge popped back in. The sudden noise caused Sheptilah to jump and nearly fall over. Her startled shriek was loud and piercing.

The ghost doubled over in laughter, "Did you really think I'd just up and fuckin' vanish!? Nah! I'm gonna live death to the fullest!"

"You asshole! You scared me half to death!" She caught her breath. "Gods!"

"That's what you get!" He cackled. "Oh, this is going to be fun."


	72. Ghosts N Stuff

"Alright! Everyone pack your stuff." Eggman announced over the PA system. "Everyone who works for Mordred is instructed to say here at Castle Snottingham. Everyone else is instructed to wait outside for transport to Bygone Island."

Cubot immediately went into his compact mode and proudly announced to an exhausted Orbot that he was packed.

"You heard the man!" MARI stood proudly, "Pack your shit!" She 'assisted' by yelling at people to get into the airship parked outside.

"Where is Sheptilah?" inquired of Eggman.

"She'll be back. She's gotta go do some burial stuff." Eggman looked over the gyndroid. "You know, we should really redesign your face, hair and chassis."

"Am I not pleasant looking?" KORin tilted her head.

"Hm, no, it's not that. A solid white paint job is a little boring. MARI has lots of color and uniqueness to her chassis. I should give you cloaking and maybe a camo print. Ooh, longer hair tied back in a ponytail and maybe a different eye color. You should stand out against your sister." He bounced gleefully on the balls of his feet, "Strange, though."

"What is?"

"Why are you solid white if you need to blend in?"

"I do not need to blend in. I was never re-designed for stealth. My function was to take out as many targets as possible in one go. My high visibility was a threat and therefore an asset to Nega."

"Oh."

A little later Sheptilah had opened a portal outside of the castle and stepped through. Coincidentally Nephthys was standing near her and stepped aside.

"Lady Sheptilah?"

The human simply stared ahead before turning to the vulture. "Yes, Lady Nephthys?"

"Are you alright?" She noticed the Overlander was covered in ashes and smelled of smoke.

"Yes." With a snap of her fingers she returned to her leather top and cloth sarong for clothing but the ash that stained her bare feet remained. "I was at a funeral."

"I see." Nephthys said.

"Tilly!" Eggman trotted over to greet her. "Just in time! I was about to call you. How'd it go?"

"It went… well." She smiled. "Scourge decided that his ghost was going to travel. See the sights. Harass Sonic in person."

"I like that last one a lot," he bent to kiss her on the cheek, "To the island!"

"I have to grab my things."

"Ah, ah, ah," he grinned, "I already have your staff securely on board."

"And about your staff?" She gestured to the straggling Egg Bosses.

"Wow," he chortled, "Your English is getting so good you're making puns! We're all going back to Bygone Island to discuss where I will be housing them later."

They all boarded the ship without incident, but not without complaint.

"I don't see why I have to be in this contraption when I can teleport everyone in an instant…" Sheptilah huffed, sitting back in her seat in the sealed cockpit.

Eggman, piloting the ship, didn't take his eyes off the sky before him. "Because I like flying." A pause, and then: "Also I record their conversations to see what they're talking about when I'm not there."

"And the truth comes out." She sighed. "Are you really going to let them go?" She took off the cloak and dropped it on the floor of the roomy deck.

"If I can figure out how to deactivate the bombs in their skulls… yes." He nodded. "By the way, there's another Egg Boss you're going to meet. He is waiting for us at the lair."

"Oh?"

"Maw the thylacine. He's very detail-oriented and loves technology almost as much as I do. If he can't help me figure out how to defuse the bombs nobody can."

"Is he nice?" Sheptilah pouted.

"Eh… yeah. He can be brusque. I think you'll like him. I also have a new uniform for you waiting in the ship."

"Is it sexy?" She teased.

"Anything you wear is sexy." He chuckled, "I remember when you were fighting the Egg Bosses and you were all sweaty, bloody and clearly not wearing underwear under your jumpsuit. Let's just say the ice wasn't the only hard thing in that room."

Sheptilah blushed a deep crimson. "Ivo!"

"Well, it's true! I think that was the first time I thought of you that way." His cheeks were a little pinker than usual. "If Shadow wasn't there I may have asked you if you wanted to have sex."

"Damn kid cockblocks even retroactively." She huffed. She relaxed her pose and giggled, snapping her fingers to change into the jumpsuit he mentioned.

"I have to say my favorite lair of yours is the one in the Arctic. So little iron is a relief and the frigid temperature really encourages you to cuddle up with me."

"Maybe I should lower the ambient temperature in the lair…" He looked at her with a side-eye to see she changed into those clothes and his cheeks got redder.

"Oh, but the heat of the island encourages me to be… less dressed." Her voice became a little deeper and she spoke slower in English.

Eggman swallowed, "Would you be adverse to making love right now?"

"Put on the autopilot."

* * *

"This island is great!" Silver flopped back on the sand, enjoying the warm sunshine.

"You're not the one who has to dig sand out of his rocket shoes." Shadow opted to stand instead.

"The sound of the ocean lapping against the shore is so calming. It's nice to hear water instead of fire." Silver sat up. "Hey, Shads?"

"Yes?"

"Where would you hide two hundred years from now?"

"I can't answer a question like that seeing as how I am in the present. I do not know what I would do in the future." He brushed back his spines, "Why?"

"Well, I did say you went missing but we believed you were still alive." Silver dug through his bag and pulled out the notebook which was now blank. "Great. So I'm basically stranded here until further notice. Oh, well."

"Hey!" Sticks called from down the beach. "Who allowed you two out in public?" She joked.

"Hello, Sticks." Shadow nodded.

"I've had all my shots." Silver huffed.

"Where's the witch? Amy is losing her mind having nothing to do but watch a huge pile of gold she won't allow me to go near!" Her tail bristled.

"They'll be back soon." Shadow pointed his thumb at the lair across the water.

"They? Who is 'they'?"

"The Egg Bosses." Silver stood and brushed the sand from his fur.

"Oh, that's just great!" Sticks jumped up and down. "I can't believe they're all coming here."

"The Doctor has been moving them around to combat the wiccaphage threat. Currently, none of the lairs are safe. My only guess is he will be moving them to a permanent airship or something like it."

"So those things are _thinking_ now?" The badger tapped her chin with a finger and her face wrinkled with thought.

A rumble was heard from the distance. At first it was confused for thunder but then it became clear it was Eggman's ship. It landed on the outcrop and the door opened.

"That's my cue." Shadow teleported to the lair entrance.

"Hey!" Silver shouted. "You forgot me!"

"You weren't forgotten; he intentionally left you behind." The badger corrected him.

* * *

Sheptilah descended the ramp wearing her new uniform. It was all black with silver piping. The turtleneck top with long, billowy sleeves had a keyhole on the chest for her Oracle Stone. Eggman kept to the triple moon goddess theme by having silver crescent moons framing the gem in the middle. The exact shade of the piping perfectly matched her staff which she carried.

Her pants were the same tight material as the top but the pockets were barely large enough to hold her phone. Her boots were unchanged. Her uniform now included a wide-brimmed witch hat with goggles resting on the silver band.

"Halloween already?" Maw stood proudly with his hands on his hips. "You must be Lady Sheptilah."

"Maw!" She smiled. "Pleasure to meet you." She offered her hand.

"That accent is _très en vogue_ ," he shook her hand, "But your hair is more butch than previously described." He looked her over thoughtfully.

"The point is I survived the haircut." Tilly quipped.

"You should see the other guy." Eggman interrupted. "Glad to have you back, Maw."

"Thank you for the invitation. Seems I'm fashionably late to the reunion. To be fair, I was expecting Wendy Naugus, not another overlander. What a delight to learn it isn't the _other_ witch."

Shadow teleported in next to Sheptilah. Maw looked over the hedgehog without much worry. "And your pet has made an appearance as well."

" _Familiar._ " Shadow corrected the thylacine.

"I know what I said." The smug marsupial turned to Eggman. "The Tralius base has been impeccably maintained by my people. The earthquake off of the Downunda coast was of no problem to us. We are ready to house the other Bosses if need be."

"Come inside," Eggman opened the door to his lair, "We've much to discuss in regards to that."

Orbot and Cubot provided refreshments. Thunderbolt sat across from Eggman absolutely seething with hatred for the human woman beside him. The other Egg Bosses politely nibbled on the snacks provided by the robots and sipped their tea.

"We will not be moving operations to Tralius." Eggman gestured to MARI.

The gyndroid brought up a hologram of Mobius.

"We will be going _up_." Eggman gestured broadly.

MARI changed the projection to show the moon.

"Not _that_ high up," he grumbled, "We _are_ going into space, however."

"What?" A collective gasp.

"The wiccaphages are getting smarter and are hiding in the oceans. Even the base that's furthest inland isn't safe because of the targeted earthquakes. So, clearly, the only way is up."

"How do we know these things aren't in space? They came from the moon, so how are you sure there aren't more floating around in orbit?" Maw appeared bored.

"Good question! None have been detected so far. A ship coated in a hefty layer of Teflon should protect us as well." Eggman nodded.

"The stuff that's on nonstick pans?" Mordred asked.

"Precisely. The caustic nature of the wiccaphages doesn't affect Teflon at all. MARI, Metal Sonic, Orbot and Cubot have all been coated in it as a protective measure."

MARI beamed with pride. KORin made a mental note to get herself coated in the material.

"Aren't I fabulous?" Cubot modeled himself for the group.

"You're something, alright." Orbot mumbled.

"Ivo," Sheptilah side-eyed him, "You didn't ask what my opinion was about this."

"What? Oh," he was embarrassed, "This is just … just for the bosses!" He lied through his teeth.

"Ivo, I don't know if my magic works in space." She ignored his fib, "And I don't know if Shadow will be able to go with us."

"GUN would not." The hedgehog answered.

"Sir," Thunderbolt spoke up, "Wouldn't it be just as dangerous if we're all back at our own bases doing our own work? If we're split up it would force the wiccaphages-"

Akhlut interrupted her. "Some of us don't have bases anymore."

"Don't interrupt me!" The chinchilla spat. " _As I was saying_ , it would force the wiccaphages to split up if they want to attack us."

"It would be safer for us to be in space where there are no known wiccaphages," Nephthys said confidently, "But all it takes is one attack to bring down the spaceship and kill us all in a single strike."

The debate continued between the Egg Bosses.

Shadow turned to Eggman. "Doctor - they all bring up good points."

The discourse continued longer than it needed to. MARI ordered Chinese takeout for the group, making sure Sheptilah had lots of vegetarian options. The delivery boy was given a good once-over by KORin before he was allowed into the lair with boxes of food.

Sheptilah dug into her greasy vegetarian lo mein with the wooden chopsticks provided. Shadow chose the spicy princess chicken meal whereas Eggman himself chose a little of everything.

"So why no meat, Lady Sheptilah?" Maw nibbled on his orange chicken.

"I've never had it. Cooked meat smells weird to me and I don't like the taste of blood so I don't eat it raw, either. I stick to veggies." She clicked the ends of the chopsticks together.

"She once ate a whole head of lettuce like it was people food." Eggman said with his mouth full.

"What about this makes it a princess?" Shadow ate his meal with a fork. "It's delicious but it makes me imagine that the chicken herself was royalty."

"Who the hell knows." Eggman stole a chunk from Shadow's plate.

Shadow moved away from Eggman lest he, too, be gobbled up.

Eggman slowly inched toward Sheptilah's plate. She looked up at him and scowled. "You so much as _think_ about touching my noodles and you will pull back a stump."

"I see why you're dating her," Maw shot a glance at Thunderbolt, "Good taste."

The chinchilla clenched her jaw.

"How about this," Sheptilah said between chews, "We divide up the Bosses and let them stay in the bases for now. You and I," She pointed to Eggman with her utensils, "Talk to Ulala and see if things are still safe up there."

"So how do you suppose we divide up the militia?" Ivo huffed.

"Easy! Draw straws by color." She summoned a handful of identical looking sticks each with different colors painted on the bottom that she covered with her hand. "If one Boss draws pink, the next person to draw pink will be that pair."

"Bad idea," Eggman interjected, "But I'm eager to see who gets what."

She rolled the sticks between her hands to shuffle them and covered the bottoms. She went around person to person to have them all draw.

Cassia and Clove got Thunderbolt.

Nephthys got Eggman.

Tundra got Axel.

Maw got Akhlut.

"This was rigged!" Thunderbolt jumped onto the table. "Why didn't _she_ have to draw straws?"

"Because I am your superior officer," Sheptilah said without missing a beat, "And also I'm sleeping with the boss."

Axel spit out his drink, Shadow facepalmed and Eggman could do nothing but wish he was dead. MARI beeped with surprise and stepped in closer to get a better look. Maw grinned with pleasure.

Cassia put her hand over her mouth in disbelief and Clove shook her head but could not help but crack a smile.

"The audacity!" Thunderbolt's fur stood completely on end, her ears pinned back and her face red as a tomato. "The crassness! The… the- ," She struggled to find the words.

With one hand on her hip and the other on the table Sheptilah leaned in and smirked. "The what?"

" _The unmitigated gall!_ " The chinchilla spat.

Shadow's brows shot up as his eyes moved from Thunderbolt to Sheptilah.

"Is there a problem, Miss Thunderbolt? Please do not forget your place here. If you have such a problem following orders then you may leave." She thoughtfully tapped her chin, "Though if I remember correctly... the only way out is in a body bag." She stood straight and tapped her temple with a finger. "For now."

Thunderbolt paused. She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly before sitting back down.

Sheptilah smiled with genuine cheerfulness. "That being said, if anyone has any real problems with their new assignments please let me know. You'll disperse in the morning."

"I really like this one," Maw leaned in and whispered to Eggman.

* * *

Sheptilah retired to her hut to relieve Amy of her duty.

"You should donate the gold!" The pink hedgehog chirped. "Though this much will destroy the local economy…"

"Donating it is a great idea… but to what?" Sheptilah thought.

"Hm." Amy picked some coins up and bounced them in her palm. "Orphanages, schools, et cetera."

"Direct action!" Sticks popped her head up from the pile of gold, scaring both Sheptilah and Amy. "Don't give anything to the government!"

"Sticks!" Amy cried. "You scared me half to death!"

"I'm protecting the shinies," Sticks dove back into the pile, "Ah, my babies." Content but muffled, she sighed happily.

"Amy, why don't you take Sticks and an armful of gold and leave it where you think they'll do the most good? Leave the gems, though. I promised Rouge she'd get first pick. I'm going into the forest to gather some lumber."

"Why?"

"I'm going to build a harp! I promised Cat Sidhe a musical performance."

While Amy and Sticks went off to distribute some of the valuable metal, Sheptilah retrieved the wood to make her instrument. She didn't want to waste time building it by hand and instead assembled it with magic.

"That's cheating." Scourge said.

"Hm?" Tilly looked around. "Scourge?"

"In the flesh!" He made himself visible. "So to speak."

"How are you enjoying this plane?" She took off her hat and placed it on the ground.

"Eh, it's okay." He watched her lug the giant harp to the beachfront.

She reignited an extinguished bonfire and began to play, finely tuning each string. "You must be bored if you're back here." She spoke to the hedgehog.

"It's so boring." Scourge sat cross-legged in the sand and rested his cheek on his hand with his elbow on his knee. "I think I miss hunger the most. I can't taste or smell anything."

She continued to adjust the strings. "Those senses may come back the longer you remain in that form; but it may also just be your memory tricking you into thinking you are smelling and tasting."

"I can't sleep, either. I'm awake constantly. I get very tired but I can't do anything about it but wait." He absentmindedly drew shapes in the sand with his fingertip.

She strummed a few chords. "What is the real reason you're back here for?"

"I can't figure out how to get to Moebius and it's so boring elsewhere. Sonic's on this island and I figured… why not!" He flashed a sharp but fake smile.

"You're welcome to stick around but if you cause any real trouble I'll have to send you elsewhere."

"Hey!" Silver called. He was followed by Shadow.

Scourge turned invisible.

"Hi, boys!" Tilly greeted them.

The beach sparkled in the sunset, the light hitting Silver's fur just right to make it seem iridescent.

"Hey," Shadow said, "Waiting for Cat?"

"Indeed." She nodded. She stroked the harp strings, satisfied with the sound. "Finally done tuning this thing. Listen… this is a song from my youth."

A fast-paced, upbeat melody was spun from her fingers like hay into gold. Silver danced around the fire with his arms raised like he was holding something above his head.

"This is a war song," she said when the tune was complete, "Believe it or not."

"That just sounds like festival music." Silver put his arms down.

"There's lyrics but I can't sing to save my life so I opted to not hurt your poor ears with it." She went back to strumming.

Cat never appeared that night, but Sonic and his friends did join in while Scourge looked on invisibly.

Anyone who could play an instrument did so. They all sang songs together under the twinkling starlight in a brief moment of peace. The moonless night made the sea look like it was created of pure darkness and the only light came from the fire.

A very loud, piercing alarm sounded. Everyone stopped in the festivities to listen.

"Is that…?" Tails looked at Sonic. All of their phones beeped in warning.

"Yeah," the blue hedgehog bent down and laced up his shoes tightly, "A tsunami is coming."


	73. Dreams Of An Absolution

"What is a tsunami?" Sheptilah took her phone from her pocket and turned off the alarm.

"It's a series of waves with incredible power." Tails explained. "On an island like Seaside... we could be entirely wiped out."

"Evacuate everyone to the highest elevation." Shadow instructed.

"No," Sheptilah interrupted, "Get everyone you can to Eggman's Lair. He's got a forcefield that can withstand nuclear attacks."

"This island has a population of seventeen hundred," Sonic pointed out, "More or less. Can't fit everyone in there."

"The tsunami should be coming from the west. We only need to evacuate the western half of the island to the eastern half. Everyone in this immediate area should go to Eggman's place." Tails typed away on his laptop. "The waves won't make landfall for another forty minutes, so there's some time. A nine-point-six quake just occured on the seabed a thousand miles from here."

"Sheptilah may be right-" Amy said, "The most destructive part of tsunamis is not the waves themselves but the damage they leave behind. That much saltwater on an island this small would absolutely wreck our fresh water reservoirs and level homes. We'd be guaranteed food, clean water and medical care at Eggman's lair."

"The Egg Bosses are still here," The human spoke, "Along with Eggman's airship."

"GUN's not on their way," Shadow looked at his phone, "They're responding to the tsunami that's moving toward a much more populated country. They don't want a repeat of what happened in Downunda."

"Quantity always trumps, doesn't it?" Sticks hissed.

Rouge appeared via warp ring near them. "Why are you standing around!?" The bat yelled at them as she stepped through. "This whole island is going to be swallowed up!"

"What if… what if I put a force-field around the whole island?" Sheptilah suggested. "I could do it. I could totally do that with the Lunar Staff."

"Let's do all of it," Shadow nodded. "Amy- take Knuckles and Tails and collect everyone nearby who is sick, old, or very young and have them taken to Eggman's lair. Sonic, Silver and Rouge, you go warn everyone in the most remote parts of the island to get to high ground."

"Use your witch orbs to summon me so I can open portals for you." Tilly's face was lined with determination.

"What should Sticks do?" Amy said.

"Sticks, you have the most important job," Shadow smirked, "Make sure Eggman behaves."

* * *

"Ivo!" Sheptilah teleported to the outcrop where he was standing. "We need the Egg Bosses' help!"

"There you are!" He shouted.

"Amy, Knuckles and Tails are coming by with everyone from the hospital. The Bosses are needed to help move people and equipment."

"What?! I don't want those people here!" He huffed.

"Please?" She begged.

"No! People will think I care about them!"

She whispered in his ear so Sticks wouldn't hear her. "I'll marry you _tonight_."

"Well..." He thought it over. "Fine, fine, let them in."

"Thank you!" She kissed his cheek and opened a portal. The Mobians helped the people through immediately. Shadow helped Knuckles move the much heavier equipment into the lair.

Sheptilah disappeared, having been summoned by Sonic. She opened another portal and forcefully pushed the Gogobas through to the nearest mountain's summit.

Sonic panted heavily, slouched over with his hands on his knees. "I'm getting tired. I haven't eaten enough today."

"I gotcha." She shared some of her energy with him.

"Thanks! Back to work!" He said, speeding off.

She closed the portal and teleported back to the lair.

"The water is receding." Eggman stood nervously on the end of the outcrop.

"It's called a drawback." KORin stood by her master. "By my calculations we have twenty two minutes until the first wave makes landfall."

The floodlights at the lair were turned on and pointed at the ocean. The beach looked larger and sounded quieter without the waves lapping against the shore.

Sheptilah obtained her staff from her hut and sighed deeply. "Go inside, Ivo. Turn on the force-field. I'll stand outside of it."

* * *

The sirens continued to blare.

"Be careful, please." He whispered to her. He put his arm around her and drew her in for a chaste kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too." She responded just as quietly.

He waited a moment before letting go of her and walking back into his lair which was now full of people. Sonic and his friends came through the final portal she had made and it closed.

Sonic guzzled several bottles of flavored sports water one after the other.

"Everyone's been cleared out." Rouge nodded at Shadow. "Go on."

She walked to the outcrop, staff in hand giving off light. The force-field came on with a 'whumph' and glowed bright blue.

"You can do this." Shadow stood beside her. A calm breeze ruffled his spikes.

"You should be inside, too." She said.

"No," he shook his head, "I'm not letting you do this alone."

The roar of the water grew louder.

"It's coming." His ears twitched. "Here goes nothing."

She held out the staff before her, flower blooming. A white bolt of energy fired from it, forming a protective bubble around the island.

A minute later the water crashed hard against it, pushing her back slightly. She got her bearings and got comfortable in her stance after a moment.

"How's it going?" Rouge called to Shadow on his communicator.

"So far, so good." He answered back. "Holding strong."

"Heh," Scourge's voice spoke. His ghost appeared next to Shadow. "I should've grabbed that stick when I had the chance. I thought it was for decoration."

The witch looked at the specter out of the corner of her eye.

"Begone." Shadow said. "We're busy."

"Ghosts can see a lot more than you meatbags can see. For example, there's a boat way out on the distance. A tiny little fishing boat that's not going to survive the violent waves." Scourge pointed. "If something isn't done about it the people on board are going to perish when the ship gets turned over."

"Rouge? Have Tails scan the area for small fishing boats." Shadow called into his wrist communicator.

Tails, sitting cross-legged on the outcrop, typed away on his laptop. "There is a boat out there! How could you see it?"

"Never mind that." Shadow barked. His eyesight, like most hedgehogs, was not very good in the dark. "It's too far out for the floodlights to reach."

"The second wave will make landfall soon, it'll be much stronger than the first." Tails said.

"I'm barely holding on!" Beads of sweat formed on Sheptilah's forehead. "I'm fighting the _ocean!_ "

"Silver!" Sonic said, "Light my way as I run across the water! We gotta save the people on the boat!"

"Right!" Silver pulled up his gloves.

"Once you're out of the force-field you can't go back in!" Tails shouted. "You could drown if the witch's bubble doesn't hold!"

"I trust her, lil buddy. Besides, Shadow's out there, too. He can teleport me back in!" Sonic grinned.

"Let's go!" Sonic sped forward with Silver flying closely behind him. Sonic jumped from the edge of the outcrop directly onto the ocean's choppy surface and sped off, racing against the speed of the water pushing forward.

"How'd he know he wouldn't go splat against the bubble?" Sheptilah huffed.

"I don't think he did." Shadow put his hand on her hip to steady her. "You're doing great."

The height of the water against the bubble rose as the next oncoming wave built up.

* * *

Sonic, unsteady and terrified of drowning, relied entirely on Silver to light the way. The blue blur ran straight into a wall of water, unable to stop in time. The force he hit it with broke his nose and disoriented him.

Within a second Silver lifted Sonic and himself up with telekinesis.

"Are you okay?" Silver panted.

"We were in a trough! We weren't on top of the waves, _we were between them!_ " Sonic choked on blood and seawater. "Where's the boat!?"

Silver looked around. "I don't see… wait! There!"

The boat rocked violently in the water. The screams of the crewmen aboard were drowned out by the roar of the sea.

Silver landed with Sonic on the deck and shouted as loud as they could. It was a crew of ten with only three accounted for. The other seven had fallen overboard.

"Maybe we can get them before they drown!" Sonic was hopeful.

"Not possible." An Overlander crewman untied the rope that secured him to the vessel. "They're already dead!"

"Come on!" Silver picked them up with telekinesis, "We are being pushed toward the island! We'll be crushed against the force fields if we don't move!" He flew off as fast as his little body could.

Sonic squirmed, hating to be off the ground. "I have to try to save them!"

"The sea swallowed them up!" Another crewman, a tiger Mobian, said solemnly.

Sonic wiped his face with his glove, looking back over his shoulder at the suspiciously tall oncoming wave. Silver dropped everyone at the outcrop between the fields.

"Sonic!" Amy screamed. "Your face!" She ran out and used her glove to wipe his nose and inspect the damage.

"Sonic!" Shadow was alarmed by his red muzzle. "Are you okay?"

"Yes! But brace yourself!" He pointed to the wave lit by the floodlights.

Sheptilah gasped, her eyes following the crest upward. Her bubble wasn't going to be tall enough. She barely adjusted it in time and tons of saltwater spilled over the top and onto Eggman's forcefield.

The metal hull of the ship crashed against the bubble and pierced through it by virtue of being steel. The hole created by the object let freezing cold water rush in, threatening to sweep them all off of their feet.

"I'm not going to be able to do this!" Sheptilah cried. "I can't! Take everyone inside!"

"I'm staying with you!" Shadow gripped the staff with her. "You can do this!" The weapon rattled even in their strong grip. The efforts to hold it steady while the freezing water pouring over them made it hard to keep strong.

"The boat is making it hard for me to keep the wall up!" Tears of anguish streamed down her cheeks. "It hurts!" She started to slip. Her skin felt like it was on fire.

"I'm going to try to push it back!" Silver flew up and grabbed the ship with telekinesis. It was too heavy for him to do it alone. He used the lair's force field for leverage and struggled.

The sound of rapid footsteps approaching made Shadow look over his shoulder. Eggman had a Chaos Emerald in hand.

"Take this and help Silver!" He commanded, shoving the Emerald into Shadow's palm.

The boat loomed in, threatening to crush the white hedgehog into a fuzzy pancake. Panic set in for him, heart racing.

"Oh, God!" Silver cried out. He tried to scoot back. "I can't do it!"

Shadow teleported to Silver and, using his own magic, helped move the boat back. The combination of their powers made the energy turn purple.

"Shads!" The white hedgehog sobbed. "I thought I was a goner!"

"It's not over yet!" Shadow, with the Emerald in one hand held it out to Silver. "Take hold!"

Silver held onto the top of the gem while Shadow held onto the bottom of it. Together they shared the power of the crystal and were boosted enough to send the ship flying back far enough that it wouldn't be a danger to them any longer.

Eggman embraced Sheptilah, helping her aim the staff and stay upright. The beam grew stronger and brighter, pushing the water back further. The hole in the bubble sealed, stopping the flow of water. Her shrieks of effort were almost deafening. The water appeared to recede.

"It's almost over," he said into her ear, "We're almost done."

Her body trembled with pain, "I can't hold it back much longer."

"Oh, _no_." Silver swallowed.

A massive tower of white, ever-shifting material jettisoned out of the water. It reached out to Sheptilah, claws forming.

"Wiccaphage!" Silver shouted. "A huge one!"

Shadow gripped the gem in his hand tighter.

"Stay back!" Sheptilah screamed.

Another mass appeared out of the sea but this one was black and shaped vaguely humanoid. It was the giant mermaid Sheptilah and Shadow had encountered while astral projecting, but she seemed smaller now.

The creatures engaged in a fight to the death, one that the mermaid emerged triumphant. Their writhing, disgusting bodies caught in each other made the most uncomfortable of squelching noises.

The giant mermaid literally tore the creature apart piece by piece and consumed it, killing it in the process.

The sea finally receded and the tsunami was over. Sheptilah collapsed to her knees and sobbed with relief. The trapped water spilled out over the edges of the outcrop like a waterfall.

"I know this creature." Shadow appeared next to the two humans.

"You _know_ this thing?" Sonic's face burned with pain.

The mermaid with a million tiny eyes on her face and ten fingers on each hand was massive enough to make the lair look like a child's toy. She backed up before leaning forward to get a closer look at the witch.

I͙̤̩̭ k̩̲̙n̵̗̠͙̺̺o͙̪̯̭̺ͅw҉ ̻͔̰͡y͔̰̩͓o̫͕̯̬͖͚͡u̷͖̝̪̫͙͕͔!̨̥̹ She spoke.

"I remember you, too…" Sheptilah looked up, unafraid. "Thank you." Eggman squeezed her tighter.

I̸̠ ͖k͕no̟͝w̫̙̗͇ͅ ̙̱̬̟ͅy̧o̫ṵ̷̝̜̲͕̟̘,͈̟͉ ̘t̘̖̥͜o͇o̢̦.̩͢

She turned to Shadow. A smile peeled across her face, revealing rows of sharp, bloody teeth. Her breath had a stench like rotting flesh.

D̩ͅo͞ ̙̫͕̮̼͓͔n̯̭̰͖o̴͉tͅ ̶̘̮̭̰̠̯c̛̫̠̗̗͙ṟ̘͘y̞̘̺̖͈͚̺͢,̡̠̝͈̻͓̝ ̙̥͜s̢m̵͍aͅl͍͔l͚̦̝̺ ͚̦t͚̹h̦̭̻̪̠̥́in̖̼̱͔͓̜̬͡g̩̼̙̭͈̙.͟ ̯͍̲I̧̜̦̣ ̰͈̻̞̪a͓̯̻͘m̢̱͈̥͎ ̧̖̦̞̣T̷͖̤̗̰̹h̢̺͓̦a̟̙̲l̠̰̦͉̠͕̀ͅa͕͖̰͝s̩̠̘̺s̲͍͙͚͕̬͙͞a͕̗̮̮̳̝,̴͉͙̳̝̗ ̦̤̀t͖h͕͖̦̬̲̯e̹͡ ̬̦̼̮͓̬q̴ue̷̺̺͓̫̤ęṋ͈͞ͅ ̧͙͉̤o͡f͓̖ ̛͎̭̜t͏̥̯̺̳͈̙h͉̼̮̱͔͓̝e͍̫̰͕͍̙̫͜ ͕͔̹͓̠͖̣͠s̨̠̻͎̞̰͉̞e̥̱̥̼̦̗̳̕a͚.̨̮ ̗͔I̢͓̹̟̰̦̗ ̣̟͇͎̰͉͘p̬͙͎̼͇͡r͙̖̲̹̣͠o̸̯͍̜͎̦t̩̖͉̼͕̫ͅé͍͎͔c̱͜ţ͍̝ͅ ͕̰̙͓ev̛̥̮̼̦ͅe̠̫̲̲̪̗r̫̮̦͉͙̰̠y͝t͟h̘͝i͓̝͜n͏͙̺͉̩g̳̤ ̟̖̱͠i̙̭̲͇̝̯ņ̰͈͕̱̭̝ͅ ͏̭̰í̯͇͎̝̲t.̬̰͍̝̹

"I am Sheptilah, queen of the Nannae and protector of the moon." She bowed her head with respect. "And this island."

Y̪̠̤̲̦̗̩͝o͔͕͓̯͔̺̜u̝̭̲͚ ̴a͏͚̯̹̦r̗͇͓̰͝e̞̳̟͝ ̶̦̼͔͓̭̗m͖u̺͘c͓h̪̩̬ ̯̼ͅb̶i͎͕̦̮͕̩͎g̡͓̝g̠͇̜̪͝é͕r̼͍ ̻̭͉͖̦͢ṇ̘͙̟̥̠̮̀o̗̻̜̮͜w̬͕!͍͡

"And you are smaller!" She joked in return.

Thalassa reached out one of her many fingers. Sheptilah stood and embraced the slimy, barnacle-encrusted digit, unable to wrap her arms around it completely. Shadow stepped forward and placed his hand on the finger and nodded.

B͚͕̬̠̦͞e̺̘̮ ̹̠̦̠̝͖v͉̦͚͈͕̣͠i͏͓̯̣̪ͅg͖̖̗̲í̗̠̬̠̯̟̬l̮a̬̺̫͙͕͎̘͝n̖̻t̜.̻̲̩̼̤ ̠M̗o̰̬̮̫̞͞ͅr̼̳̞͡e̖ͅͅͅ o̷̱f҉̟̫̜̤̰̮ ̨͕̦͖̫t̹h͍e̬͔͍͖̹ś͚̠e͎͖̻͇͎ ̡̖͚͓̥̲̤c̭̩̯̮̳̻͡r̡̠̯̗e͉̗̞a̘̱͍̤̱̣̬͡t̙u̧̼̭̬͖̹͔̹r̸e̡͖̰̻s͙̹ d̩̰w̙̭͇̮̘̝͟e̮̭͔̪ͅḻ͎l̷̼̘̗ ͝f̮͔̹̼̘͍͓a̴ͅr̹̮͟ ͟f̛̺̮̥̟r͔͓̭ͅo̸̼̦̣̮̰m̢͙͓̙̣̫̙ ̝͎̜̠̲̜͚͡h̰e̢͉͚̗̤̣r̮͙̩̘͙ẹ ͚i̞n̡͙̜ ͙̙̗̬͢t̷̺̺h͍̯̺̫͍ͅe͚̱͚̭͇̜̖ ̠͖̝̻̼͙d̡̹͔̜̞͖̯͙a̸̹͈͇̱̥͕̯r̡͙̲̹̬k̠͓͘eṣ͎̳t̡̟̻͍̼̰̦̠ ̘d͏̮̖̥e̻̞͕̙̥͈ͅp̨͔̰t̫̙̹͢ͅh̥̣̙͍͙̘̰͞s̛͓͕.̷͙̱̮͖̗ ̸T̳͙͚̤̹̭͞ͅh͞e͓y̯̺͚̱͉ ҉͕̙k̥̞͙̘͚̩ͅn̞͖̮̩͞o͈̭̘̣̹̲w̩̘͟ͅ ̝̠͇͠w̩̹͙̳̩͞h͍̣̕e̹̙r̀e̘̜̗͈̳̬̝ ̹͈̪͕̜̗y̳o̴u̹̠͓̞͈͙͝ͅ ̳̗̪̖̖͠a͏̳̖̺͈r̷͔̠è̲̫̩̙͕ ̴̹̘̜ͅa̷̹nd̢̹̤ ̩̺̘t̢h̳̝̖͇͍͖̯e͎̳̟̖̦͖y ̬͓̤̼̲̣͍c̫͉̞̝̫̦̤͡a̘̯͚̹͓n̢͙̜̱͕̠͍ ̱̻̙̼̹̱̜s̺̤̜̤̠͢p͔̬̥͍̕ͅe͓̦̹͙̥̪a̩̘̺͓͘ͅk̠̪̦.̵̩̬̥̪̥

"They can speak?" Sheptilah was alarmed.

A̬̺̪͠n͚̤̜͎̥g̶̗͉̬͖̼̺e̛͙̠̦̘̤̳̖r̙̹͈͙̬.͓̩̺̼̖͍͔ ̶̞͕͎͎̟̦̳Ŕ͚̦͖̹̣̱͔e̮͉͍̝̻̥͜v̰̬̫̯̠̫̪e͔͈̼̘̣͝n̴͈̻͕̘̫̖g͠e҉͇̤̗̤.͖̗̞̟̯ ̘̤͕̻́A̼̱̳g̹̯͉͞o̤̦͍̕ͅn̷y̲̯͢.̟͔̯̙̕ ̡͕͚̱ͅI͈̞̠̮̤̗̖t̞̗͇̙̞͓ ̺̦̪͟i̩̠̥s͉̳̜͓͓̳̀ ͏̞͓̩̣w̮̰̲͕̯̙h̸̬̪̦̼͓ͅá̳͓t̸̺̭̤͔̤̬ ̩͇͜t҉͎̯̫h͔̫̺ȩy̞̤͖̱͍̳ ̪͙͍̖̖s̹ͅp̖̫̫͖͇̲e̫̼͕̙͘ͅa̶k͈̭̼̘ ͖̟̥̲̪o̤̰͈̪̝̣̫̕f̤̠.̫̟̹̩̱̫͉

T̨͓̥̣̹h̵e͇̞̱̳͖̣ s̸̘̹e̸̝̘̞̱̳a̴̲ ̤͖͡i̧̟͓s ͉͎̭̬de̷̹͔̥̤͍̼̤e҉̲͇͚̗̲p͎̘͎̦̠͇̦ ̮̤͚̙͕̗̘a̵̗͔̦n̪̹͉͓̭͍͜d̢̫͓̣ͅ ̦̙̣̘̘͙̻͡ị͖͓̤̗t̪̰̺̗͕͔ͅ ̙͚͉͙̳ḭs̳ ̟̼͔v̢á͓͇̞͉ș̴t͇̞͈̻͙͖.̵̺̜̠̤͚̖ ̨̰I̛̗̬͓̝͖̖͙ ̩̕h̙͎̳̦͉̥͇av̹͖̪̳͕̮́e̟͔ͅ ̭s̡̮̫͈̰tr̘̠͙̣u̶̯̝̤̳̦̣g̞͙̰̪g̫̙̻̤͠ĺ͇̰̼e̳̝̖d̝̞ ̗͙͉͕͡t̸̜̜̠͍ͅo͚͍̬̮̼̮͎ ҉̥̙͚̫kee̺͙̲͚̘p̦ ̤̳͍i͙͙̥̭̘͠ͅt̘ ͈͖͔̥̝͓̳͝s̬a͟f́e̷̫ ̗̭̣̟̝̬̺͟f͏͉̭̱r̪͖̣͍o̗̣̩̝͕̺ͅm̪̬͍͈ ͚͉̖͙ṭ̶̺̟h̸̫̬̤̝é͚̘͓s̩ḙ̣̳̲̦ ̢̠̥̳̳̪̱̼c̨̗͓̥̻̯̼̥r҉̰̜ea̴̖̪t͚̮͕̲̪u̷͓͎re̷̠̯͕̖͍̮s.̹ T̸͚h͟e̠̺̪͇̙̮͘ͅy͍̘̝͘ ̨̮͈̩̖̲̪p̸̳̹ḙ̩̙̝̬̘r̲͙̮̰͝s̩̮̞̬̙̩̻͢i҉͎͉̼͙s͕̬͟t̮̗͓͙̦̰͠,͔̥͈͉̦̺̤ ̯͈̖̘̲̗͟ͅć̮̮͔̳͔̻a̦̲̰͚̹̲̺u̧̩͎s̘ì̼̺͕̦̬n̵͇̪͓̫̪g̛̣̳̝̘̮̩ ̜͔̬q͘u͕͕̠̗a͏͙̘̭̬͓̬k̫̪̱e̳͙͍̦͙̜͠s͎ ̰̗̻̲̫̦̱͝a͖̣͙͔̳͜n̢͓͙̯̫̹ḓ̤̙̜̥͜ ̛͚ṯ̙̮͔̬͜ͅͅs̘̼͖u҉̘̫̲̣̱̝n̵͚a͏̱̝̹̘ͅm̯̻̹i̬̹̮̦̜s̩.̢͉̫͕̦̮͕ ̫̳I͍͖̳̫ͅ ̲̮̩e̵͇̟̳̹͙̳̺a̴̖̬̱̺̞t͢ ̺t̺͕͙̭̟͎h͕e̺̪m̀,̳̟̹̻ ̬̠͚͕̼̳̮b̥̥́u̴t̝͍͉̀ ̣̼͎̠į̘̖͚̜t͉̪̭̙̠ ̣̰̣͈͚̳m̞͔̙̳͎̟a̲k̤͕͙͎è͖̦̹̼͉͚ͅs ̮͎͈͎͈m̘̘̝̹̫͎͈͘e̶̗͙͍̞͔̜̙ ̯s̤i̮͙͓̮͉ͅc̖̝̙̲̯̟͞k.̦̞ ̖̦

"Don't eat them!" The witch shouted, "It'll kill you!"

"I cannot understand a word the big thing is saying," Sonic whispered to Amy.

Ḭ͉̻ ̯͖̻͓̹́a̩̪͈m̷̬͖̳͍͍̬ ͜a̼s ̧̯̫͕͈͎o͙̖͇͈l͖̱̼̬d͍̮̞͓̪̜ ͞ḁ̼̺̫̺s͉̬͚̖͙͉ ̫̫̼͈͘t͉̠̩̬̝hi̫͕͘ͅs̰̺͈͕̰̟ͅ ̖̯̖̞̞̥̤p̛͉̥̥l̥̪̫̤̪͡a̢̝̟̻ṋ̨̹͙̗̝͍e̵̲͎͔̦̬ͅt̤̝̙̯̤͓.̢͖̬̳ ̠̦͍̞̼̲I ̲͎̳̬͇̙̕w̛͚̦̟i͘l͎͔̻̗̭ͅl͇̫̺͙̝̗ e̸͕̻̯̰n̠̟̪ḏ̲͉̮͞u͖͎͚̯͝r͓̪e.̷͖ ̶͚̱̯G̹̲̹o̮̦͎͖̙o̴̻̹̣͇͚̪d҉̙̭͔͚b͡y̭͉̗e̫̟̜͕̺̟, ̮̙̲͍̖ͅs͓͕̥̤̲̙̕m̟̳̯à̫̮̼l̮̫͓͙̟͍͎͝l̝̣̤̼͝ ̷̠̫̻̲̱t͕̠̭̻̀h̞͘į͇̳n̞̠̭̹͇̗̙͡g̝̣͡s̫̗̖.̟̰̮͚̣ ̼̞̟͉͔

"Wait!" Sheptilah called to Thalassa, who paid her no mind. She descended back into the sea from whence she came.


	74. The Heart Is So Willing

"Thalassa… so _that's_ her name." Shadow smirked. "I guess we have friends in high places."

"How… how do you know that thing?" Sonic's voice was nasally.

"We met her astral projecting. She helped us get to NiGHTS' plane." Shadow was very casual about knowing such a creature.

"She protected us again," Sheptilah wiped the slime from her cheek, "It seems the realm of the macro mermaids is also _our_ realm."

"I thought we were in another dimension…" Shadow shook his head and handed the Emerald he was holding to Silver.

"Evidently not." Tilly sighed. "Oh, Sonic… your face is _mashed_."

"I ran into a wall of water." The blue hedgehog crossed his arms.

"Sorry… you're hard to keep up with…" Silver said sheepishly.

"I got this." Shadow pressed his clean hand to Sonic's muzzle and healed it while clamping down to prevent him from talking.

"What the-!" Sonic gasped when the pain went away. "My mouth!" His voice was muffled.

"What do you say?" Shadow teased.

"Thank you, Shadow, for not using your _nasty_ glove." Sonic said flatly. Shadow let go of the other's mouth and crossed his arms.

"Are there any other eldritch goddesses I should know about?" Eggman exhaled slowly to calm himself.

"No, I didn't even know about that one." Tilly laughed out of nervousness. "Without her we'd have all died… I couldn't do it alone." Her hands still shook and her legs were sore. "That boat threw me for a loop."

"Nobody can save the planet alone," Amy stepped up, "Trust me… we've all done it eight or nine times before and we all relied on each other to get it done."

"I know but… I could barely save the _island_. How am I supposed to save this whole planet?" She stomped her foot. "I can't even use the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Syzygy Canon, three hedgehogs that can go super powered, Amy's hammer, a meathead echidna and, if all else fails, we can throw Sticks at it." Eggman hugged her.

"Oh yeah, Sticks could totally take on the wiccaphages barehanded." Tilly cracked a smile.

"Yes I can!" Sticks shouted. "Point me in the direction of these alien invaders!" Her fur stood on end and she growled, looking in all directions.

"Settle down." Knuckles patted her on the head. Sticks let out a placated grunt and sat on the damp stone.

"Go take a shower, you're stinky." Ivo teased his girlfriend.

"I gotta help the sick people back to the hospital, though." She frowned.

"Actually," Shadow took off a glove and opened a jagged, sloppy portal himself, "I've been practicing. It's not pretty but it's a portal."

* * *

"That was so cool!" Cassia followed Sheptilah around the lair. "Like, the coolest hero in a video game versus the boss! Did you summon that demon mermaid?! Can you do it again?"

"No," Tilly chuckled, "Thalassa summoned herself." She grabbed some clothes from Eggman's drawer before moseying off to the bathroom. "Where's your sister?"

"She's around," Cassia replied coolly, "Hey, when you're done do you wanna play some video games? If you're not too tired, that is. Nobody else wants to and MARI cheats!"

"You're the youngest Boss here, right?" Tilly frowned.

"Yep; but I'm the best! You're the _oldest_ Boss."

"Does that make me the worst?"

"No, it means you're _second_ best."

"Pff, I'll take it!" Tilly laughed. "Let me take my shower." She shut the bathroom door behind her.

"Are you familiar with Tetris? Krusty's Fun House? Puyo Puyo? Magic Bubble? Crazy Taxi?"

"No." Tilly turned on the water. "I don't play a lot of games."

"Are you more into rhythm games like Dance Dance Revolution or In The Groove? Let's Tap?" Cassia was playing a round of Bubble Bobble on her phone.

"I have no idea what any of those are." Tilly called from the bathroom. "How about I show you one of my games? It's called Twenty Squares."

"A new game?" Cassia's ears stood straight up. "Awesome!"

* * *

"This isn't as awesome as I thought," Cassia huffed. "I prefer digital games."

"We did not have computers five thousand years ago." Tilly, wearing some of Eggman's oversized sweatpants and shirt, set up the board she made herself. "Twenty Squares is a game where the player rolls three sided dice and moves their piece according to the score. You can hop over pieces. If the other person's piece lands on yours, you must return to the start. You can't land on your own piece. The object is to get 'home'. You have to roll an exact number of squares to leave the board at the end. You can't have left over moves."

The boxes on the board had different symbols painted on them.

"These other drawings are for decoration but the ones that look like flowers means you get to roll the dice again."

"So it's like Parcheesi," Cassia chose the black pieces, "But more narrow and we move in opposite directions."

"Sure." Tilly nodded, not knowing what Parcheesi is.

They played the game. At first it seemed like Sheptilah was going to win but at the very end Cassia swept in and sent Tilly's last piece back to the start and had just enough moves to make it off the board.

"I won!" Cassia cheered.

"You did! Congratulations! Nobody has beaten me in five thousand years!" Sheptilah was barely keeping herself from having a nervous breakdown. The distraction of the game was more than welcome.

"I'm number one!" Cassia chanted.

"Cassia?" Clove came into the living room and saw the two playing the game sitting across from each other using the coffee table. "I thought I heard you gloating." She smiled.

"Ooh, yes! Lady Sheptilah taught me a game from her time and I won on my _first_ try." The little green pronghorn beamed. "Too bad I can't log the score on some global scoreboard."

"MARI! Are you listening?" Sheptilah said loudly.

"I'm always listening," her robotic voice answered from somewhere, "Always listening. Your eye in the sky. _Well_... I'm more like your ear in the... the _here_. Ear in the here."

"Let it be known that Cassia beat me at Twenty Squares one out of one time."

"Done!" MARI chirped. "Cassia: one, Sheptilah: big fat zero."

"Eggman doesn't deserve you." Cassia said with wonder.

"No, he does not." Tilly shook her head. "I'm in it for the free wifi." She joked.

"Are you really going to free us…?" Cassia asked.

"Yes, though I haven't figured out how to heal you yet. I think Shadow may have to do it."

Cassia would have blushed if her face allowed it. "Really? _Shadow?_ "

"She's got a crush on him." Clove shook her head.

"Aw, that's cute." Tilly giggled.

"Clove! You _rat!_ " Cassia threw a pillow at her sister.

Clove caught it and put her hand on her hip.

"I think he's too old for you." The Overlander teased.

"Oh yeah? Aren't _you_ too old for Eggman?" The younger pronghorn crossed her arms.

Tilly acted like she was offended. "You will be as old as me someday!"

"I don't want to live five thousand years," Cassia stuck out her tongue, "Actually, maybe I do. Immortality! Think of all the video games I'll beat in that time!"

"You remind me of my old familiar Hebat." She said to Cassia. "Only she would roll into a tube when she was mad."

"Ladies!" Eggman interrupted.

"Hello, Lord Eggman." Clove responded automatically.

"Board games? Pillow fights? Is this a sleepover? If you had told me I would've brought the bon bons and hair curlers!"

"And curl what, exactly?" Tilly raised a brow.

"My mustache, darling, my _mustache!_ " He twirled a corner between his fingers.

"Cassia beat me so bad at Twenty Squares I may never play again." Tilly grinned. "Are you ready for bed?"

"Yes. Are you?"

She nodded, packing up the board pieces she bid the pronghorns good night and went off to bed.

Laying under the covers facing Eggman, Sheptilah sighed softly.

"What's wrong?" He said, half asleep.

"GUN."

"Hm...?"

"They were gonna let the people on this island die, weren't they?"

"Triage; it's what government bodies do."

"I think Tower was just doing it to get back at me for spitting in his face."

"He _can_ be a petty bitch."

She sat up and drew her knees to her chest. "I almost didn't make it. I don't think I can stop the wiccaphages."

"Babe, go to sleep. You'll feel better tomorrow."

"I can't protect everyone…"

"Of course you can't. That's why everyone is helping." Eggman rolled over.

"We're all going to die."

"Everyone dies eventually. I'm gonna die right now if I don't get some sleep!"

"We're all gonna die so painfully!" She sobbed.

"Please. Go to sleep." He felt for her hand in the dark and took hold of it. "You're exhausted and frazzled right now."

* * *

Sonic sat at his kitchen counter on a stool with his head on his arms. Shadow was next to him sipping a soft drink.

"You did really well today." The black hedgehog said quietly.

"I guess."

"You can't save _everyone_ , Sonic; but you did help save a whole island."

"You know I'm terrified of drowning, right?" Sonic lifted his head just enough to see over his arm.

"Yes," Shadow nodded, "Everyone knows. That's why Eggman's lair is surrounded by open water on all sides."

"So knowing people were drowning and I couldn't save them was the worst position I'd ever been in. My heart was thudding so hard I thought I was going to die. When I hit that wall of water I thought I snapped my neck." Sonic's ears drooped forward.

"When I was really little, and I mean _really_ little, I was maybe about as tall as a foot and a half. I wasn't afraid of water then. I was running in the Aquatic Ruins with Tails, whom I had just met. Some of the brick gave way and I fell into the water. Some of the stone fell on top of me and hurt my foot. I realized then I couldn't swim well at all and everything… everything got dark. My body felt light and my head was pounding. I never felt fear like that before."

"Go on." Shadow listened intently.

"Tails jumped in and saved me. He used his tails like a propeller and got us both out of the water. He hit me really hard on the back and I spat up the water I had swallowed. I lived, obviously, but I never approached water the same way."

"I get it. I grew up in water." Shadow tapped a nail on the can. "Well, not water, but it was dissolved oxygen and other nutrients in water. I was essentially kept in a specimen jar for the first half of my young life on the ARK. I hated water after that. Still do."

"So you're actually afraid of something." Sonic snorted.

"I'm not afraid of water." Shadow corrected him, "I just hate it." _I'm fucking terrified of heights_ , he wanted to say. _I fucking hate being in the air._

There was a pause while Sonic searched for his words.

"I kind of wish Sheptilah never came into our lives. This mess with the wiccaphages brought up a lot of trauma I guess I buried deep down."

Shadow said nothing.

"The hero of Mobius, blue lightning, fastest thing alive… has nightmares about corpses and broke his face on a wall of water."

"You're fifteen fucking years old, Sonic."

"Sixteen."

"Fine, sixteen. You're _sixteen_ years old. Do you know how old Eggman is? He's forty seven. He's got trauma up to his eyeballs. Don't even get me started on myself or Sheptilah."

Sonic lifted his head and looked Shadow in the eye, unblinking.

"Knuckles is sixteen, going on seventeen, and he's the last of his species. Amy is twelve going on thirteen and has witnessed you and I practically die maybe five or six times now and almost caused Espio's death in the catacombs. Tails is, what, ten? Eleven years old? And his parents are dead? He lost them when he was so young he doesn't even know their names or what they looked like. Silver's entire life is cursed from start to finish."

Sonic just stared at him.

"Remember when Gerald Robotnik's execution was broadcasted around the world and played over and over again and we all watched it?"

"Yes."

"And how you shook it off and we took down the Biolizard and saved Mobius?"

"Yes…?"

"What happened to _that_ Sonic?"

"I had to compartmentalize and run off to save the planet, that's what happened. Now, I have too much down time to think. I can't even read to relax because I read so fast I'm done with an entire book in five minutes."

"So your problem is Eggman isn't keeping you busy? That's what you think?"

"What else could it be?" Sonic furrowed his brows.

"You idiot." Shadow crushed the empty soda can between his index finger and thumb. "Your problem is you're simultaneously rushing and procrastinating. You always have. Sometimes you just can't run from your issues and you have to face them. You stuff these feelings way down into the pit of your stomach and it turns into this festering turmoil that's killing you because you're a kid who thinks he has to act like a grown-up all the time."

Sonic's face flushed red. "Pot calling the kettle black, here."

"Yes, I know this from experience." He inhaled and exhaled slowly. "I talk to Eggman and Sheptilah all the time when we're asleep. We go to each other's dream planes and discuss everything. We share memories and we work it out."

"Eggman?" Sonic snorted. "What does he know about healing trauma?"

Shadow looked at Sonic knowingly.

"Oh, yeah," the blue hedgehog said after a moment, "Katella; and his crazy mother but mostly Katella."

"And?"

"And watching his grandfather get killed and learning his cousin was killed by the same government entity that made you."

" _And?_ "

"And… Sheptilah nearly killing him and also nearly dying in his arms twice and everything that happened because of Nega."

"Now you're getting it." Shadow smirked. "Everyone carries scars on their hearts."

"Most of my 'scars' are Eggman's fault."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you can't learn from him sometimes. He never shuts the fuck up about his problems with the ones he loves. You," Shadow pointed, "Need to talk to someone sometimes."

"In the end, everyone's got worse problems than mine. At least my parents are still alive and I'm able bodied and certainly not the last of my race."

"It doesn't matter if you're drowning in the ocean or in a pool. What matters is you're _drowning_."

Sonic's ears stood straight up.

"Do you understand now?"

"Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Shads."

"Good. Now pull yourself together, Sonic."

"Hey, Shads?"

"What?"

"Why didn't you bring up Rouge's traumas?"

"If I did she'd kill us all."

* * *

Mayor Fink had everyone stand on a stage in front of the grateful townspeople of Hedgehog Village. The Egg Bosses hung out in back with Orbot, Cubot, MARI and KORin.

Sheptilah nervously tapped her thighs with her hands at her side, unsure what to do with them. One by one Mayor Fink gave Shadow, Sonic, Silver, Tails, Amy, Sticks, Knuckles and Eggman a lei and a small badge. Rouge, although deserving of a reward, had to go back to G.U.N. the night before so Shadow held onto her badge.

"For your bravery in protecting our island! We thank you for your services!" The gray mouse spoke.

Sticks sniffed her flowers suspiciously and bit into the badge to test its hardness.

"Yay, Eggman!" Dave cheered from the crowd.

"And, last but not least," The Mayor's assistant handed him a badge shaped like a bird wing, "This is for you, Sheptilah."

"Me?" She held out her hand for the badge.

"Yes! You did the hardest part! You kept the island drier than usual so… thank you!"

The pin itself was unremarkable. It looked like something you could buy at any tchotchke shop and it was light, made of aluminum. However, it meant a lot to her.

Tears ran down her cheeks. "Thank you."

There was some cheering, but the Gogobas only clapped politely.

"If you ever need anything, do not be afraid to ask! Alright, you all can go home now," the Mayor shooed everyone away, "We're done! Go home! I have to give the stage back, it's a _rental_."

The crowd dispersed.

"You're gonna make me cry!" Amy grabbed hold of her.

"Why are you crying?" Silver asked the Overlander.

"I've never really been honored before," she sniffed, "Ever."

"Oh, for God's sake," Eggman pinched the bridge of his nose, "She cries about _everything_ , Silver."

"It's true, she does." Shadow nodded.

"You kids are so mean to me!" Tilly smiled. "I expected Fink to ignore me. I keep forgetting this isn't the ziggurat."

"You're loved," Shadow said, "So stop crying."

"Excuse me for having functioning tear ducts," she wiped her eyes, "Sheesh."

Dave walked up to the group. "For saving the island… Meh Burger is sponsoring a free lunch for you all."

"Free food!" Sonic sped off, and then came back. "Is there a limit?"

"Uh, all you can eat?" Dave raised an eyebrow. "I'm not paying for it."

"Aw, yes!" Sonic was gone again.

"Do you have any non-meat options?" Sheptilah asked Dave at the counter.

"Technically, we aren't _legally_ allowed to call our burgers meat." The river rat answered truthfully, "It's more of a pseudo-meat quasi-byproduct." A pause, and then: "With artificial flavors, colors and preservatives."

"I'm sorry?"

"Just… a large order of fries for her," Eggman said, "I'll take a double bacon burger with cheese. Cheese it up, David."

"Coming right up!"

"Pseudo… meat?" Tilly muttered.

"Don't worry about it." Eggman patted her on the head. He saw Mayor Fink out of the corner of his eye. "Hey!" He ran off to greet the mouse.

"Yes?" The Mayor's tall hat threatened to fall over when he turned.

"I actually would like to ask a favor of you," Eggman leaned in and whispered into the mouse's ear.

"Mhm… mhm… really? I was expecting you to ask for the island!"

"Maybe later," Eggman half-joked, "Can you do that and keep it top secret?"

"Sure. Just come to my office later. Bring a witness. We will do this by the book!"

Eggman went back to the counter, a huge smile on his face, and took the food to a seat.

"Why are you so happy?" Tilly picked up a fry.

"Why shouldn't I be? I'm eating a delicious lunch with the love of my life on a _very_ beautiful day."

"Aw." She blushed.

"Ew." Shadow said as he walked by with his own food. He sat down next to Tilly and unwrapped his burger. "I'm glad you're in a much better mood," the hedgehog said, "Last night I could feel your anguish."

"Ivo was right… I did feel better after I slept. I guess I was just too tired to focus or function." She brushed her hair, now shoulder length, out of her face and behind her ear. "Where'd you sleep last night?"

"I didn't," the hedgehog answered as he took a big bite of his food, "I have been awake this entire time."

"Hey, Shadow?" Eggman kept his voice very low.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Do I have your permission to marry your witch?"

"Hm?" Sheptilah was confused.

Shadow put down his burger and rested his elbows on the table with his fingers locked. He leaned his head forward and coldly stared at Eggman.

Eggman straightened up his posture and stared back with just as much unblinking focus.

After a moment Shadow smirked and picked his burger back up. "Yes."

"Yes." He placed his hands together.

Tilly sipped her soda. "I thought we already agreed on this…"

"I figured I would show a little respect." Ivo shrugged.

"I appreciate it." Shadow nodded.

* * *

Shadow met Eggman and Sheptilah in the Mayor's office later that day.

"Here are the papers," Mayor Fink held them in his hands. "So, to begin."

Eggman and Tilly stood next to each other arm-in-arm.

"Do you, Doctor Ivo Robotnik Eggman, take Sheptilah Queen to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"Yes, I do." He looked her in the eyes, "The Universe saw fit to bring us together. We were born thousands of years apart but we found each other anyway. We're very different people- yet you complete me. I promise to always be by your side and protect you. I love you more than I could ever say, my one and only."

She blushed deeply.

"Do you, Sheptilah Queen, take Doctor Ivo Robotnik Eggman to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"Yes. Ivo, in this complicated and changing world you somehow make things simpler. My sun, you bring warmth and light to my otherwise cold and dark reality. There are trillions of beings in this Universe but only you are the one for me. You are my destiny and I wouldn't have it any other way. My love for you is deeper than any ocean and brighter than any star."

"Shadow, do you have any objections?" Mayor Fink asked him.

"No, I do not."

"Then, legally, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may exchange rings and kiss."

Eggman took a platinum hammered cuff bracelet out of his pocket and slipped it onto her wrist. "Since a ring is too obvious… I decided a nice subtle bracelet would work instead." He pulled a small platinum band from his other pocket and removed his glove, slipping the ring on his finger. "I wear gloves, so I can hide my ring."

They kissed chastely, smiling from ear to ear.

Mayor Fink handed them the papers to sign to make the marriage official.

"Before I forget," Shadow took a small glass cup wrapped in paper from his spikes, "Doctor."

Eggman took it. "Oh, yes, thank you, Shadow." He placed it on the floor and stomped it.

"Mazel Tov," Shadow said, arms crossed but smiling.


	75. Take On Me

Sonic was about fifteen cheeseburgers into his lunch before he realized something was wrong.

"Where's the humans and Shads?" He said, mouth full.

"They went to the mayor's office." Amy sipped her drink. "Sonic, you've got shmutz all over your face." She reached for his cheeks with a napkin.

Sonic leaned back and licked his own cheek clean.

"Wait," Sticks said, her eyes narrowing, "Do that again…"

"Do what?"

"Your tongue!" She pointed. "I knew you were an emissary for the lizard people!"

Sonic stuck his tongue all the way out. It was much longer than your typical mammalian tongue. "Thith ith juth how hedhog thungs are."

Amy stuck her tongue out all the way to demonstrate the truthfulness of what Sonic said.

Sticks, speechless, leaned back and stared wide-eyed.

"You guys, I got you beat." Knuckles stuck his tongue all the way out. It reached past his chest.

"But can yours do this?" Sonic twisted his around like a corkscrew.

"Yeah, can you do this?" Knuckles rolled his up and then shot it straight out like a party blower.

Amy tied her tongue into a knot without using her hands. She untied the organ and wrapped it around her straw, pulling it out of the lid. They laughed at each other gleefully.

Sticks looked on in horror but was slightly impressed.

"You guys are gross." Tails grimaced.

"You're just jealous because you don't have a funny tongue," Knuckles rapidly pulled it in and out of his mouth.

"What are you _doing?_ " Shadow walked up to the group with the two Overlanders.

"Longest tongue showdown. Knuckles won." Sticks' fur was on end.

"I leave you kids alone for fifteen minutes…" Sheptilah sighed. "Where does it _go_ when it's fully retracted?"

"Down the back of our throats." Amy shrugged. "Wait, that came out wrong."

"Moving on," Eggman said, "I'll be at the lair if you need me." He spoke to Sheptilah as he kissed her forehead.

"Bye, love." She nodded with a smile.

"Oh, did you get a new bracelet?" Amy pointed to the metal bangle. "It's pretty."

"Yes, I did. Thank you," the human blushed, "Hey, when you're done eating I need you to help me move all that junk out of my hut."

* * *

"I think we should bury some of this in a secret location," Shadow pawed through the huge pile of gold and jewels. "As a safety precaution. If you unleash this onto the island all at once you are going to absolutely destroy the economy."

"I know, but good idea to bury some." Tilly picked up some bulky necklaces.

"Are any of these things cursed?" Shadow looked at a coin.

"Maybe, I'm not sure. You'll know it when you see it, if at all." Tilly scratched her head. "Hey, thanks for being the witness. That made me really happy."

"You're welcome, Ti-ti." His ear swiveled toward the door. "Shh, Amy's here."

"Hi!" Amy cheerfully greeted the two as she walked in the door.

"Hey!" Tilly grinned. "Princess Pinkie! Come on, dive in."

Sheptilah and the two Mobians separated the treasures by types: jewelry, coins, bricks and loose jewels.

"You could liquidate a lot of this and stick it in a bank somewhere. It'll earn interest and you'll have even more money over time." Amy placed a crown on her head, ears poking through the middle.

"I don't need money." Tilly shrugged.

"I think Amy's point is you'll have more money to do good with." Shadow had a small baton-like object in his hand. He looked it over, unsure what it was.

"Can't I just spend Eggman's money?" She joked.

"Yeah, but it's good for a woman to have her own money." Amy picked up a large pair of jade earrings and held them up to her face. "Do you think green is my color?"

"Yes! You have green eyes." Tilly smiled. "Darling, you look fabulous!"

"They feel kind of heavy…" Amy giggled. "Might pull my ears off!"

"Ti-ti?" Shadow nudged her shoulder with the baton. "Any idea what this thing is?"

"Hm?" She grabbed hold of it without looking.

A bright light filled the room for a moment and then disappeared.

"What just happened?" Amy rubbed her eyes. "Oh… oh _no_."

Shadow now appeared to be an Overlander. He had the typical body of a twenty year old with orange-brown skin like his muzzle was. His red and black hair reached his shoulders and pointed outward like his spikes. The markings on his arms and legs remained a deep red, as were his eyes.

Gracefully, the baton sized up his gloves and shoes and gave him a simple outfit of black pants and a shirt.

Sheptilah, on the other hand, was shrunk down by a foot and a half. She had the body of a curvy, black desert hare with very long, erect ears. Her long white hair reached her feet. Her face and hands were brown skin with black splotches like freckles. A large, white heart-shaped dewlap spread across her chest with the Oracle Stone nestled in the middle.

Shadow looked down at his hands and then to his legs.

Sheptilah held her hands up to her face. She felt her cheeks and up to her thick, curved ears.

"I'm a furry!" She cried.

"I'm a human!" Shadow exclaimed.

"I'm confused!" Amy looked on, horrified.

"Oh my gods, Shadow. This is a Switcheroo." She held out the baton. "We swapped places!"

"You swapped _species_..." Amy looked back and forth between them. "Freaky Friday!"

"How long is this going to last?" Shadow huffed.

"A few hours, maybe?" Tilly put the baton into her headspace. "No longer than a day."

Shadow stood up. "I'm certainly not used to being this tall..." He was somewhat unsteady on his new feet.

"I'm so fluffy…" Sheptilah played with her dewlap. "I'm built for winter, not summer! I'm going to roast to death."

"You're a black-tailed jackrabbit," Amy corrected her, "Look."

Tilly stood up and looked at her behind, wagging the tail. "So I _am_ built for summer."

Shadow briefly activated his Chaos powers as a test. "Seems we still have our magic."

"Thank the gods," Tilly stretched, "I can hear everything! I think I get satellite TV on these things," She pulled on her ears. "I can hear your heartbeats."

"I guess we now know what your fursona looks like." Shadow scratched his head. "And my persona."

"Hmph." Sheptilah crossed her arms.

"Actually, this makes me the witch now and you the familiar, right?" Shadow put his hands on his hips, a little startled by how wide they were now.

"Not really," Tilly let her arms drop. "Wait, I can't let Eggman see me like this! MARI will never let me live it down, either!" She tried to shape shift back into a human but couldn't. She just appeared as a doll-sized human so she stopped.

She turned her head toward the door and felt this intense urge to stomp her foot.

"Sonic, Tails, Sticks and Knuckles are coming." She said, anxiously and rapidly tapping her foot.

"Hello, anyone home?" Sonic knocked on the door before opening it. "Is everybody dece-"

"I can explain!" Sheptilah said.

"Something is different about you," Sticks went up to Shadow and sniffed him, "Didja get a haircut?"

Shadow gently pushed her away. "There was a cursed item in the pile of treasure and now my witch and I have switched species."

"A jackrabbit! Careful, Tails might try to eat you!" Knuckles joked. "You know, 'cause foxes are a predator and she's prey now?"

"Foxes also eat echidnas." Tails said. "Don't tease her."

"Thunderbolt is gonna kill me if she sees me like this." Sheptilah whined. "Oh, my gods."

"Stop panicking. It's only for a day." Shadow crossed his arms.

"I must admit- I like the fairy witch a lot better as a furry than as an Overlander," Sticks smiled. "It's a level playing field."

"It's not her fault she's so upset," Amy defended Sheptilah, "Hares and rabbits are extremely nervous animals. Look at how she's tapping her foot."

"I want to die." Tilly said. "I really, _really_ want to die. You know, more so than usual."

"Actually, hares are quite calm and docile," Tails said, "She's just upset because she's no longer a human."

"Alright, everyone out." Shadow shooed them away. "I've had enough of you." He closed the door behind them.

"You're taking this rather well." Tilly said.

"Oh, I am freaking out on the inside, trust me." Shadow said. "I feel so naked without my fur."

"You're wearing more clothes now than you were before."

"I know." He paced around the room. "How do you humans do anything? No wonder you're all so cold all the time."

Sheptilah gathered up the treasures and locked them into several different trunks.

"I'm going to the lair." Tilly grabbed her phone off the floor. "I've got stuff to do involving the wiccaphages." She opened a portal to the outcrop. "Are you coming?"

"Yes, I suppose." Shadow stepped through.

* * *

Sheptilah rang the bell to the lair. Eggman answered wearing a chef's hat, oven mitts and an apron.

"Sheptilah?"

"You know it's me?" Her ears perked up.

"You're my _wife_ ; I'd know you in any form." He smiled. "And you have to be Shadow. What happened?"

"Cursed object." The former hedgehog said curtly. "It'll wear off by the end of the day."

"Say no more," Eggman ushered them in, "You're just in time for hiding in the master suite for the time being. The Egg Bosses are all out cleaning up the beach." He pointed to the figures that were too far away to see them.

The beach was covered in natural and artificial waste kicked up by the tsunami. The Egg Bosses were instructed to sort the trash and collect any leftover wiccaphage debris.

"I bet Maw is having the worst day right now." Tilly giggled.

"Oh, yes," Eggman sighed, "He's been quietly seething."

The trio walked down the hallway. Eggman suddenly had the urge to pat Sheptilah on the head and reached out for it. He looked to her familiar for permission. Shadow raised an eyebrow and Eggman withdrew his hand.

"This should make for an interesting honeymoon…" Eggman said. He opened the door to his room and let them in.

"Don't you even _think_ about it, mister." Tilly pointed an ear at him. "You'll be asking me to shape-shift into all kinds of things for sex. I should just transform into Sonic and stay that way."

"Honeysuckle, I'm talking about us leaving in a few hours for space." Eggman pinched the bridge of his nose. "We're going to space for a while to do a scan for wiccaphages on the planet and to inspect the moon base. Also, I finished the Syzygy Cannon so I need to attach it to my ship."

"Oh."

"Don't mind her." Shadow patted the top of Tilly's head. "She's just agitated. I'm somewhat enjoying my new height. It's nice being able to see over counter tops." His sarcasm was biting.

"Wait, we're leaving for space in a few _hours?_ " Shadow turned to the other human.

"Yes, it's the only way to keep you two safe for now." Ivo frowned. "A lot of wiccaphage bits keeps washing up on the shore. I guess Thalassa is a messy eater."

"How long will we be in space?" Shadow asked.

"A week, maybe. No longer than two weeks."

"I'm already on thin ice with President Tower." Shadow shook his head.

"Fuck him. He left this island to die." Tilly jumped onto the bed and crossed her legs.

"It's not what I would've done had I been in his position," Shadow said, "But you weren't present when Downunda was ravaged by the tsunamis. According to Rouge you could walk across the water on the floating bodies and not get your feet wet."

Sheptilah's heart sunk.

"What?" Shadow tilted his head.

"I thought he was angry because I spat blood on him."

"Oh, he was livid about that incident but that's not why he skipped over this island. He trusted that we'd be enough to protect it- and he was right. Nobody died and no homes got destroyed."

She hung her head with shame.

"I guess I was just being selfish." She stared at her hare feet. "Alright. I'll help clean up the beach. My magic will make it go by really fast."

"You're okay with the other Bosses seeing you like this?" Eggman raised an eyebrow.

"There is no shame in being a Mobian," Sheptilah jumped from the bed to her feet. "I still have my powers and I'm still their superior! I'll walk out there with my ears held high and get to work. I just hope Thunderbolt doesn't notice."

Eggman smiled, "Alright! I like it much better when you're cheerful."

"And you are coming with me!" She grabbed him by the gauntlet.

"What?! Beach cleanup is… _beneath_ me!"

Shadow pushed Eggman out of the room by the small of his back, "Nope. What she says goes."

* * *

"You're real cute as a furry." Scourge's ghost teased Sheptilah. "I'd bury my bone in your yard if you know what I'm saying." He observed as she sifted through the curious objects that wash ashore after storms.

Shadow shot the ghost a dirty look.

"I'm way too old for you." She said as she paid no real mind to the ghoul. "I don't diddle children."

"I'm seventeen! Well, I'm dead now; but seventeen is legal." Scourge stuck his nose up.

"Are you even old enough to drink alcohol?"

"Actually, yes." Shadow righted a refrigerator and cautiously opened it. "Mobian laws and human laws are kind of different. Mobians mature faster but age slower, if that makes sense." He was relieved to see the refrigerator was empty and sent it to the dumpster with a portal after ripping the doors off.

"What?" Tilly flung the natural debris back into the water. "Not really."

"More or less, once we hit sexual maturity we stop growing," Scourge explained. "You humans don't stop growing until you're like, twenty five years old. That's well past sexual maturity."

"It depends on what subspecies you're talking about, though. Insect and reptile Mobians are different even among their own classification because they lay eggs. Most mammalian Mobians are of reproductive age around the age of twelve or thirteen but by then we would be young adults by human brain development standards. However, because all Mobian lifespans are about as long as a human's, humans still see them as children. This is probably a good thing." Shadow scratched his scalp, thinking his ears were still there.

"Because you are." Tilly frowned. "I'm a full grown adult- and you are children to me. Just because you're able to reproduce doesn't mean you should go practicing with anyone."

"You're also _super fucking old,_ " Scourge kicked over a pile of sand, "You belong in a museum."

"Once Mobians and humans regularly started living and going to school together things changed. It's still a little taboo for a human and a Mobian to partner off, though; mostly due to… size differences." Shadow pulled out a car bumper from the sand. "Eighteen to a Mobian is somewhere around twenty three to a human in terms of adulthood."

"Dudes, I was just making a fuckin' joke... you didn't have to get all discoursey on my ass. I'm sorry I said anything." Scourge sat on a pile of trash. "Ugh. I'd kill to be able to smell all this garbage again. Being dead is like being numb."

"You'll regain some senses over time… but it's more like the memory of senses. You won't likely experience new ones." Sheptilah uncovered a very old set of human leg and foot bones in tattered clothing with concrete blocks around the ankles.

"I think he's dead." Scourge said. "Check for a pulse just in case."

"Today's been eventful. On top of everything it looks like we solved a missing person's case." Shadow notified G.U.N.

"Can we go one day without there being dead bodies around?" Silver floated up to them. "Is that… is that Scourge?"

"He's a ghost now." Tilly sighed.

"Wait, you're a Mobian… and Shadow is a human. I thought Amy was joking."

"You know what? Sure, why not." Silver landed in the sand.

"Lady Sheptilah?" Clove walked up to them. "The south end of the beach is cleaned now."

"Good! You and the other Bosses can take the rest of the day off. Thank you for your hard work."

Clove walked away to tell the others.

"By the way, congrats on your marriage." Silver said, pointing to the bangle on Sheptilah's wrist.

"You know?" Shadow turned to see a little G.U.N. ship approach to collect the remains.

"I'm from the future." The white hedgehog shrugged.

"It's a secret, okay?" Tilly grinned.

Silver winked. "Got it."

"Are you gonna bunny hop on Eggman's dick?" Scourge wheezed. "Gonna give him a little cottontail? Are you going to screw like rabbits? Will you let him pull your ears? Are you gonna let him eat your creamy center or are you a hollow chocolate bunny?"

"That's it! I'm exorcising your ass!" Sheptilah threw a rock at Scourge which passed through him painlessly.

"Neener, neener, nee nee!" He teased.

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow shot Scourge on the rump with a small bolt of green energy.

"Son of a bitch!" Scourge shrieked and jumped up, "My tushie!"

"I'll show you a bunny hop!" Shadow chased after him.

* * *

"My love." Eggman sat with Sheptilah, still in hare form, under the big tree in his garden. He ran his bare hands over her soft, furry shoulders.

"I'm scared." She admitted, staring out at the water. "Space… it's terrifying."

"Spaceships are mostly titanium and ceramic. You won't be bothered by much iron or steel." He kissed her cheek. "The alloys used are less than point-two-percent iron. A lot of it is plastic because metals tend to bond to themselves in the vacuum of space."

"It's weird how space changes how objects work."

A pause, and then: "Shadow is a little worried but he'll never admit it. He's never have fun up there." She leaned back into Eggman's chest.

"He's got you." His ring glinted in the setting sun. "He'll be fine."

"Yeah, he's got us."

"He's a doomed man." Ivo teased. "I can't believe I have you."

"Oh, if my mothers could see me now." Tilly tilted her head back and looked up at him. "You know you're a king now, right?"

"Oh, yes, that's correct… I am a king now. I have diplomatic immunity from G.U.N."

Sheptilah moved her hair out of her face. "Aren't there warrants out for your life in certain countries?"

"Ho ho ho! Yes, but now that I'm a king they have to go through my queen. Even if she is a bunny right now."

"I am a hare! Hmph!"

"My honey bunny!" He held her tightly and rubbed his cheek against hers.

"My egg leg…"

"Egg leg?"

"It's all I could think of that rhymes! I have trouble with English." She pouted.

In an instant, she was back to being her human self, clothes and all. The spell was broken.

"Ah, I'm a human again!" She brushed her hair behind her ear.

"You're still just as hairy." Ivo peppered her neck with kisses.

Deep down in her heart she knew Rabisu was laughing with her- joyful to be loved and cared for again.


	76. Broken Arrows

"That poor girl!" Andrea Cabbot sat at her sofa knitting a blue sweater while listening to the news. "Amazing what you can live through."

Boris sat next to his wife while sipping his coffee. "I remember asking you to stay out of my files, Andrea."

"I've seen it all," she clicked her tongue. "I'm afraid of what Nega would do in retaliation if he ever got out of the Zone Prison assuming someone doesn't murder him first," her knitting needles clacked. "That place is a zoo!"

"Andrea…"

"She does nothing but help people! It makes me so angry that someone would…" Andrea stabbed the knitting needles into the skein of yarn and crossed her arms.

"You're gonna burst a vein if you don't relax," Boris poured her a cup of tea. "She's alright. Shadow has told you time and again that the witch is okay."

"Poor thing." She picked up the cup and sipped her tea, not really tasting it. "And Shadow, too. I like that boy."

"He certainly cannot catch a break. He's going into space for a while and Tower is furious."

"What? For how long?" Andrea frowned.

"Forever."

"No, I mean how long will Shadow be in orbit?"

"Oh, maybe a month." He grinned. He knew exactly what she meant.

"I hope I can get this sweater done before he leaves." She held it up, revealing her knitting.

"Oh, honey." _He's going to hate it,_ Boris thought. "It's adorable!"

"And look!" She flipped it around to show the holes in the back for his spikes. "For his pointies!"

"They're called spikes," he uneasily scratched his ear.

"Pointies, dear. They're his _pointies_."

* * *

Shadow packed his bag for the excursion. Clean socks and gloves, MP3 player, toothbrush and a tablet to read books on.

"Knock, knock," Rouge said, entering the room with something in her hand. "Gotcha a whole big bag of those lemon candies you like." The smile on her face showed off her pearly white fangs.

"Thank you, Rouge."

"I'm jealous. I wish I could go with you."

"I wish you could, too. The two humans are going to be so lovey-dovey it almost makes me sick to think about it." He placed the candy in his bag and zipped it up.

"I thought you were happy they're together." Rouge sat on the edge of the bed.

"Well, yes, I am happy that she's happy and in turn that keeps Eggman under control but… you know how uncomfortable it is to have to witness them crawling all over each other like maggots on a corpse."

"That's a cute mental image… I assume Eggman is the corpse."

"Bloated and ready to pop," he rolled his eyes. "She did threaten Thunderbolt's life, however. Makes me worry."

"Why?"

"Because she wouldn't have ever done that before. I guess Eggman is rubbing off on her."

"From what you say it's not all he's rubbing on her," Rouge muttered. "Well," she said louder, "It is also Thunderbolt. I'd be mad at the little puff ball, too. She did cause her to get Nega-napped and is constantly crawling up the Doctor's leg."

"She won't do that anymore. Rumor is he threatened to execute her if she didn't stop. Just when you think maybe Eggman turned over a new leaf- he goes and does that."

"I'd be livid if one of my underlings nearly got _my_ wife killed."

"Rouge..."

"I know about the wedding. Those are public records." She crossed her legs and looked at her gloves as if she was inspecting her nails. "I'm also a damned good spy."

Shadow let his bag drop to the floor and he rubbed his temples. _Great, just great._

"Tower doesn't know and neither does Cabbot."

"Thank God for small miracles." A sigh of relief escaped through his teeth.

"You're a good sport to put up with all that. It's all almost over though, isn't it?"

"I think so. It feels like it's all almost over and done with." He smiled bitterly. He wasn't sure if he meant the ordeal with the wiccaphages or their lives. Perhaps it was both.

"Ah, you feel your mortality sneaking up on you." Rouge frowned.

 _Honestly! Is she a telepath!?_

"Shadow, you will be fine. You'll all be fine. You were literally made to be unkillable, Eggman refuses to die out of spite and of course- Sheptilah has rapid healing powers. Don't worry." She smiled, lip gloss glistening in the dim light.

"You are so sure," his lips became a tight line.

"Remember how your witch explained magic? That if enough people for a long enough time believe in something the Universe makes it true? You should think positively." She pursed her lips. "Sometimes lying to yourself works."

"Fair enough," Shadow smirked. "Just like how you lie to yourself that you don't have a crush on Knuckles."

Rouge's face became red and indignant. "I do not have a crush on him!"

Shadow snickered.

Boris came to the door with a small box wrapped in red paper. "Hello, Shadow. Andrea has something for you but asked you don't open it until after you're in space."

"Ah." Shadow took it and set it on the bed. He was relieved the box itself wasn't too heavy. "Thank you, sir."

"Well, you should get going." Boris stepped out of the way of the door.

"I want to say goodbye to Hope before I leave." Shadow threw his bag over his shoulder and stood in the doorway.

"I'll call you when I get up there, Rouge." He walked to Hope's dorm. He was pleased to see that her room was neater and she wasn't as tired.

"Shadow!" She cheerfully called to him from her computer. "I heard you're going to space."

"I've been there before. It sucks," he said. "It disrupts the circadian rhythm and looking down on the planet loses its novelty after a while. The lack of sunlight causes vitamin D deficiencies which leads to general malaise and lethargy."

"And it affects how you smell and taste food." Hope rolled her eyes. "Still, it's space! Most people will never get to go there. Take lots of pictures, okay?"

"I'll even bring you moon rocks if I can."

"Actually, it's better if you don't…" Hope chuckled, "You never know what you can bring home with you. Besides, it could be radioactive."

"Hmm?" He adjusted the bag on his shoulder. "Radioactive?"

"Yeah, the surface of the moon is very radioactive. Generally, all of space is. The only souvenirs I want are photos."

"I didn't know all of outer space was so radioactive," Shadow played dumb. "Are you always smarter than me?"

"Ha ha," Hope grinned. "I'll miss you." She got up and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Be safe, okay?" She said. "I love you so much."

He relaxed into her arms. "I love you too, Hope."

* * *

Sheptilah slowly flew her staff the same way Amy flies on her besom. Sonic sat beside her side-saddle with a death grip on the shaft. Some thin clouds, not far above their heads, floated on by slowly. _If I fall and hit the water I'll be shattered like glass on concrete,_ he thought.

"I see why Amy prefers the besom. It's easier to relax when you're sitting instead of standing..."

Sonic looked past his knees at the sparkling, rolling sea below him. "Why are we up here?"

"It's too hot closer to the ground." She threw her leg over the side so she was facing the same direction as Sonic. "Also, it keeps you from running away while I talk to you."

"Oh, now I'm a little scared," he laughed.

"Scourge is back as a ghost."

"Yes, I know. Shadow told me the other day." Sonic hunched forward. "It's cool."

"I cremated his body at my ziggurat." She leaned back a bit and looked up at the sky. "His heart and body isn't hurting anymore. Somehow we both found redemption in his ashes. You should've seen him, Sonic. He faced the sunrise with sparkling eyes and grinned. He seemed genuinely at peace for the first time in a long time."

"Can we talk about something else, please?" Sonic stared at the water.

"I'm sorry. Ever since I came to the island I've been trouble." She pushed her hair behind her ear. "I just wanted to tell you that if you put a little salt around your hut and burn some sage it'll keep Scourge away. He'll fade off in time."

He exhaled sharply. "Please take me back to the island."

"Sonic…"

" _Please_."

Her heart twisted and it was hard to breathe. "You won't have to deal with me much longer. The end is nigh, honestly." She lowered the staff slowly.

"I know what it feels like to sense death is coming." Sonic huffed, "We all die. Everything dies eventually. I have to be reminded of that every day now that Scourge is haunting the island. It's like looking at my own phantom."

"Sonic…"

No response.

"Hey…"

He stared ahead at nothing.

" _Look_ at me." She whispered.

He stared at his knees for a moment before side-eyeing her.

"You are not Scourge and he is not you. You look alike, but you aren't the same." She smiled bitterly. "You feel this cool breeze?"

"Yeah."

"No two gusts of wind are identical. They roll around the world without care picking up the scent of places they've been."

"I guess so." He felt a little better about it. _It's true,_ he thought, _I'm me and nobody else._

They were now inches above the rolling waves yet he didn't feel afraid. Sonic's heart softened and the anger he felt drained away. _We were dealt a shitty hand but we're all doing our best to do the right thing._

"Besides, if you're a breeze then Scourge is a fart."

Sonic burst into laughter. His chest ached and eyes stung from cackling so hard. "He really is a stinker, huh?" He wiped his eyes and sighed.

"Tilly? Thanks for everything."

"You're welcome," she leaned in and kissed his cheek.

He blushed. "Hey!"

"What?" She laughed.

"I wasn't expecting that!" He snickered. "Aren't those the same lips that touched Eggman? I have to disinfect my cheek."

"I've kissed Shadow, too!"

"I have to burn my whole face off!"

"Still want to go back to the island?"

"Actually, let's have some fun." He pulled out his music player hiding in his quills and set it to speaker. He tied it to the staff with his headphones and pressed play. "Let's fly!"

"Yeah!" She took off at light speed and pointed the staff upward. Sonic chose a playlist with light and airy but driving beats that were uplifting, hopeful and fast-paced.

They looped in the thin clouds, the cold and wispy feeling of running through them blowing across their faces was invigorating. The fading trail left behind them was a glittery rainbow that stretched for miles.

"Woo!" Sonic cheered. "Roller coaster in the clouds!"

Sheptilah stood up on the staff and directed it like a surfboard with her feet. She jumped from the staff and screamed with delight as she fell toward the sea. Sonic watched as she rolled and held her arms out but kept her legs together. The staff caught up with her and she landed perfectly and posed.

"Ten out of ten!" He cheered. "My turn." He rolled back and forth balancing on the staff and then spin dashed like a bullet. He bounced back and forth in the air before uncurling and striking several cartoony poses like pretending to be bored, laying on his side and acting like he was asleep.

Sheptilah snapped pictures and moved so that she'd be under him when he landed. He dropped onto her shoulders hands first and pointed his legs up then out.

"Nine out of ten," she laughed, "Very good!"

"What?! That was a perfect score performance!"

"You lost a point for not pretending to be swimming!"

"Alright, that's fair."

Sheptilah took a selfie of the two of them making funny faces. Sonic rolled forward and landed on the staff.

They chased a flock of seagulls beating their wings as hard as they could to get away from the airborne intruders.

The birds squawked when the pair rolled around the flock in loops.

"This reminds me of a book I read when I was younger: _Jonathan Livingston Seagull_ by Richard Bach. This bird named Jonathan lives his life doing what he loves despite what others think." Sonic stood on the staff, holding onto Sheptilah's arm for balance.

"He ascends to a higher plane over and over again, learning as he goes. Eventually he comes back to our plane to teach other birds what he died over and over to learn."

"That's very poignant, Sonic; and fitting… except for the repeat dying part."

"Yeah, I read a lot. I should give that one another go. It's very short."

"You're much more fun than Shadow when it comes to flying." She slipped her phone into her pocket.

"That's 'cuz he's afraid of height." Sonic shrugged.

"You're not supposed to know that!" Tilly puffed out her cheeks. "Who told you?"

"I can tell by his body language whenever he's up really high. His tail sticks straight down. I also know you and Eggman are married now."

"What!?" Her eyes were wide as saucers and her joints stiffly locked in a defensive stance.

"I'm not dumb. You both went into the mayor's office and you came out wearing a bracelet, in a cute attempt to throw us off, but I can still see the shape of the ring under Eggman's glove. On top of that I saw Shadow sneaking a glass cup from my hut and putting it in his quills. I know Eggman is Jewish and that they step on the thing at a wedding." He said smugly.

Sheptilah blushed and looked to the side, then back to Sonic.

"You really love him, don't you? Can I ask why?"

She raised an eyebrow, calculating how to answer the question. "I… he loves me and takes good care of me. He's surprisingly gentle at times."

"People don't change." Sonic sat down.

"I know but… their priorities do. I know he loves me though sometimes I can't figure out why. I guess it's because I challenge him. He'd move heaven for me if I asked. Ivo has told me before that he was seriously considering settling down and retiring somewhere warm."

"I'm happy for the both of you. Genuinely. I'm not sure Egg-face deserves it after all he's done but… I'm happy. It'll keep him out of my spikes, at least."

"It's a obviously secret, by the way. Please don't blab about the marriage."

"I won't tell anyone. Amy is going to kill you for not letting her be the flower girl, though."

"When this is all over I'm sure Ivo will want to have a real one for the pageantry of it all." She took a haughty tone. "After all, he is a king now." She pantomimed waving to loyal subjects and blowing them kisses.

Sonic shrugged. "And I'm a _prince_. Nobody really cares about royalty anymore."

"Huh? No, I only crowned Amy a princess I never-"

"Nope, I'm _born_ royalty, but that's a story for another day. So I guess you two are honeymooning in space?"

"No- we're fleeing. He's terrified the wiccaphages are going to come for us."

Her phone beeped.

"I guess I have to go now." She frowned.

Sonic leaned down and turned off his music.

Sheptilah teleported them directly to the island. Sonic hopped off the staff onto the volcanic outcrop and shook the condensated water off of his quills.

"Hey, love," Eggman approached Sheptilah. "We're leaving soon. Do you have everything packed?"

"No," she admitted. "I was preoccupied."

"What were you doing with Sonic?"

"We sailed in the clouds for a while." He held out his hand with his fingers together and moved it in a wavelike motion. "It was awesome."

"We had a grown up talk, Ivo." Sheptilah stepped off her staff and leaned it against her shoulder. "Just tying up loose ends."

Sonic put his hands on his hips and chuckled.

She opened a portal to her hut and stepped through. Before closing it she leaned on the edge and whispered to Sonic.

"I'll miss you when I'm gone." She said through a pained smile.

"See you around!" He waved cheerfully.

After a second he had a grim realization. "Wait, what's that mean?" Sonic stepped toward the opening only to have Tilly close it in his face.

"Hmm," the hedgehog thought, "Mmm."

"What?" Eggman approached him.

"It's just… never mind."


	77. Alligator Sky

"Why do you keep leaving?" Amy sat on the counter in the kitchenette and followed Sheptilah with her eyes while the witch packed things into a small, enchanted leather trunk. Larger items disappeared into it like a void.

"Going back to my Nannaeic roots of being a nomad, I guess." The human kept her teeth together and eyebrows furrowed.

Amy tilted her head and looked on silently.

Sheptilah exhaled sharply and leaned against the counter. "I am sorry I'm not a very good teacher or friend. It's too dangerous for me to stay put right now. I make everyone around me a target."

"Are you taking Sonic with you? Silver?"

"No, just Shadow."

"Wouldn't putting all three of you together in one place make it even riskier?"

"At least if we're in space… none of you will be hurt." She shrunk her grimoires and placed them into the chest. She then latched it shut with a loud snap. She exhaled slowly to calm herself.

"You've got the run of the place while I'm gone," she smiled sweetly at the hedgehog.

Amy nodded.

"My phone should still work in space so if you aren't sure about something… you can always call and ask!"

"I'm going to miss you." Amy frowned.

"I'll miss you, too; but remember I'll be above you. Like a halo or a guiding star. You may even be able to see the ship at night."

Amy jumped forward and held the overlander's torso tight, burying her face in Sheptilah's stomach.

Tilly gently stroked Amy's head. "Princess? What's wrong?" Her breath hitched when Amy squeezed tighter.

"I have a very bad feeling about all of this." She sobbed. "You just got back and now you're leaving again. Every time you leave the island something bad happens to you! The ziggurat, Thunderbolt's base, Nega… it's never good!"

"Don't be scared," she tried to soothe the hedgehog, "I'll be alright. I can't get any safer than space."

"You could have all of us in one place and still be at risk! The wiccaphages are relentless!"

Sheptilah frowned. Amy was right.

"Besides, I'm not ready to take over the hut," she sobbed, squeezing tightly. "I'm not ready. Please don't go."

"Amy…"

"You're the closest thing to a mom I have and I don't want to lose you, too."

"Y-you don't have a mom?" Tilly's chest tightened. She just assumed that, like Sonic, Amy's family was elsewhere.

"I was always alone," she sniffled, "That's why I followed Sonic and Tails around all the time. I don't know who my parents were or anything like that. I just knew my name was Amy Rose."

This is the second person to call her mom in as many weeks.

 _Mom,_ Sheptilah thought. _Mom… I guess I_ am _the mom of the group._

"You're the princess. I'm obligated to come back to you." She kissed Amy on the top of her head.

"If you really have to leave, take this with you." Amy pulled a small box from behind her back. "I wanted to give you this last Christmas but I wasn't able to. It's your own tarot deck."

"You got me my own deck?" Sheptilah gingerly took the box and opened it.

"I painted each card myself," she smiled, "That way you can read the images like you read written words. I thought about what each card meant while I made it."

Sheptilah looked over the carefully varnished cards. Each minor arcana suit had its symbolic flower to go with the object and the major arcana was represented by tree species. A shimmering silver and gold border lined the edges of every card and the backs were uniformly blank.

"Amy, this is beautiful." Sheptilah closed the box and put it in her headspace. "This must have taken you forever to make. Thank you…"

"Ah, it was nothing... only about a week of work on and off." Her tear-stained cheeks raised in a grin, "There's so many tutorials online that make it painlessly easy to make floral art like this. It's all about the brushes you use."

"Thank you, Amy. I'm going to treasure this forever."

* * *

Sonic snuck around the outcrop Eggman's lair was seated on by rolling silently from boulder to boulder. He uncurled to peek out between his knees to see that a very large airship was parked above the water. A long platform led up to the open cargo bay where heavy duty robots loaded equally heavy duty crates and stacked them in neat piles of three.

 _Medical supplies, fuel, replacement parts, provisions,_ Sonic read each cube. _Who needs that many boxes of toiletries?! Maybe it's all mustache wax…_

Scourge watched his blue doppelgänger very closely. He wondered how difficult it would be to possess a living person. It could be like in the movies where you simply jump into a body- or he may phase right through. He invisibly approached Sonic from behind, waiting to strike.

When Sonic believed it to be safe the blue hedgehog fully uncurled and crouched, looking to see which Egg Bosses were going, if any.

"Why are you being so fucking nosy?" Scourge whispered into Sonic's ear.

Before Sonic could react, Scourge essentially hugged himself into the blue blur's body. So it is like in the movies!

"Eh, feels the same." The possessed Sonic looked at his hands and then strutted toward the crates. The robots ignored him.

"Hey! Look at me!" He said in a sing-song voice. "Looky looky!"

The robots were focused on their task.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." Scourge, in full control of Sonic's body, hopped up on a crate and started shouting nonsense. Another robot picked up that exact crate and carried it into the ship.

"This is no fucking fun-" Scourge crossed his arms, "-But this does give me an idea…" He smiled devilishly and rubbed his hands together.

* * *

"I can only bring two bosses that are reasonable in size. This means Tundra and Axel are out." Eggman was doing some last minute packing in his bedroom with Sheptilah sitting cross-legged on the floor reading a gardening magazine.

"Aw, I like Axel."

"The space station isn't built for more than one human living up there. Things are going to be extremely cramped."

"Think you and I will have to share a bed? I hope not." She teased. She looked down at the pictures of gardens from around the world and felt a twinge of bitter jealousy in her heart upon seeing a recreation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

"I'm serious. I've converted a storage unit into a sort of bunk bed closet so things are going to be miserably tight for a while." He realized he completely forgot about her claustrophobia. "Oh, honey… I think I've made a huge mistake."

"How so?"

"The fact that you're claustrophobic has slipped my mind…" He bit his thumbnail through his glove. "Shit."

"Oh, right," she grew nervous, "Close… cramped… for a month."

"I'll cancel this excursion. We'll figure something out."

"No, it's okay." She stood and stretched her legs. "It's okay. It's cool."

He went up to her and took her hands. "No, no… listen. You've been through enough."

"And? I can handle being in a very tight place with you." She smirked playfully.

"I'm _not_ joking." He looked at her sternly.

She sighed and leaned her forehead on his chest. "It's fine. I'm getting better about it."

"I'm your _husband_. It's my job to protect you and keep you safe and happy." He brushed the loose hair from her face. "If you cannot handle being up there we will turn around immediately and come back to Mobius, alright?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "Yes, I will let you know if it all becomes too much for me." Her heart felt full and her chest was very warm.

"You're blushing," he cracked a smile, "You're blushing!" He teased her.

"I am?" This made her blush harder, "Agh… it's kind of… nice to hear you say you're my husband. Makes me feel a little high. That warm, sweet feeling of being in love does that." She giggled nervously.

He kissed her forehead. "Having you in my life makes everything worth it."

"When did we get so sappy?"

"Eh, maybe a year ago? It was after we made love for the first time. It's something about a woman's rib cage opening… so hot." He joked.

"That's it!" She grabbed a pillow off the bed and playfully whacked him with it.

* * *

Nephthys and Maw were ultimately chosen to travel aboard the ship. Bringing only the essentials, each carried a small hard-sided carry-on with the Eggman logo emblazoned on the front. Sheptilah and KORin observed as they boarded the ship.

Shadow, standing beside his witch, noticed that the silver thread was still tied to KORin. He lightly tugged it loose and wound it back up around his wrist. No one had noticed this action.

"Daddy!" MARI whined, trailing behind Eggman. "I wanna come, too!"

"There's no space for you on the ship! And stop calling me daddy!" He shooed her off.

"Never! Take me, your most favorite and precious daughter, to space! I wanna go on the field trip!" She begged.

"MARI, cease." KORin crossed her arms. "I am not invited on this excursion, either."

"Mommy!" MARI turned to Sheptilah. "Make dad take me!" She clasped Sheptilah's hands tightly and put on the biggest puppy dog face possible.

"You will be with us." Tilly's eyebrows upturned. MARI's face lit up and her eyes glittered. "Remember? You'll be the overwatch, like always."

MARI frowned. "I want to go in my body! I can't do much when it's just the cameras and microphones. I miss out on so much. I won't be able to see the stars from inside the ship's brain."

"I'm… I'm sorry, MARI. There's no space."

"Hot glue me to the chassis! Something! Mom, _please._ "

Sheptilah looked over to Eggman who simply shook his head. She looked back at the pathetic gyndroid and sighed. "I'm sorry, MARI."

"Meatbags," the robot huffed and dropped Tilly's hands. "I never get to do anything fun."

Metal Sonic traipsed by and loaded himself into the ship, briefly looking back at MARI over his shoulder with contempt.

"Why does _he_ get to go!?" MARI whined again.

"You are a toy. He is a weapon." KORin was not one to mince words.

Sheptilah gently straightened MARI's hair piece and smoothed down the flyaways. "We don't want to lose you or KORin, which is why we're leaving you both behind."

"W-what do you mean, lose? We have trackers and GPS. You can find us anywhere in the solar system."

Tilly smiled bitterly. Looking into the robot's eyes with a mixture of pity and sorrow she tilted her head and cradled MARI's face in her hands. "Maybe my English is off…"

Orbot and Cubot floated by with Sheptilah's trunk and tossed it into the ship.

"You're irreplaceable. It's safer here on Mobius for the both of you. We need you to protect the Egg Bosses while we're gone."

MARI blinked. KORin turned to the witch and almost felt jealous of the affection being shown to her sister.

"Be a good girl." Tilly leaned in and kissed MARI's forehead. "Okay?"

MARI nodded solemnly.

"Mother knows best." Eggman grinned. "Now take your sister and go back into the lair."

MARI obliged, taking KORin with her.

"Don't let her tug on your heartstrings," Eggman warned Tilly, "She's sneaky and manipulative."

"He's right." Shadow combed his fingers through his quills and then adjusted the strap of his bag. "After all, she is just a machine."

Sheptilah frowned. "What measure is a non-person? Where do we draw the line?"

"Flesh and blood. That is the line." Shadow popped a lemon candy into his mouth.

"To say nothing of all the ghosts we encountered." Eggman said snidely.

"Rabisu has no flesh or blood and is still a person."

 _I did actually have blood at one point,_ Sheptilah. _Your flesh is my flesh._

"Alright, fine. Let's board the ship already!" Sheptilah clapped her hands together.


	78. Major Tom

As if on cue the ground rumbled and the water level rose.

"Another quake!?" Shadow braced himself.

Sheptilah covered her eyes with her hand and looked out onto the water as a familiar form emerged from the surf.

" _For God's sake_ ," Shadow huffed.

"Thalassa!" Tilly jumped up and down.

The displacement of water splashed the bottom of the still-parked airship. Thalassa's long, barnacle-encrusted fingertips gripped the outcrop as she peeked over the edge.

 _Small things!_ She said telepathically to all of them.

"Hey, you're not distorted anymore!" Tilly grinned broadly.

 _Yes, some smaller sea babies assisted me. Now I know how to talk to all of you without making you hurt!_

Mermaids, some large and some human-sized, appeared on the edge of the outcrop. Only a few looked like people from the waist up while others had the appearance of a dugong. A few of them were merhogs in bright colors.

"Merhogs?" Eggman sighed. "I haven't seen those things in _years_."

"I wasn't aware merhogs were a thing." Shadow was grateful Gerald didn't give him a fin or gills.

"We found some trash of yours in our waters!" A merhog tossed a broken tiara at Tilly.

"My crown," she looked it over, "The keycard. It's all _destroyed_."

 _Some smaller wiccaphages were trying to get into the arctic building with your lover's face on it a long time ago. I thought they were trying to brute-force it with the crown. It was pulled from my gums by a sea baby last night. It really hurt!_

"They're smart enough to use tools now?" Sheptilah frowned. _Fuck._

"Do you happen to have any of the wiccaphage left between your… teeth? Baleen plates?" Shadow looked at Thalassa.

 _They're teeth, little one. I may, but why?_

"I'd like to take a sample to someone." Shadow thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around and looked for movement but saw none; reasoning it was just a glint of light off of the water. "That is if you do not mind, Thalassa."

The eldritch sea goddess leaned down and carefully parted her lips to expose razor sharp teeth that jutted from her jaw like small hills.

Shadow cautiously looked in. Wood, hunks of ships, bones and still-decaying whales were all trapped between her teeth. _All this and a small tiara was bothering her?_

"Yikes. You may need more sea babies in here to extract the rest of the garbage stuck in your teeth, Thalassa. I think I found the lost city of Atlantis."

 _Atlantis is not lost._

"I was making a joke."

 _Oh._

With magic he grabbed a small bit of what he thought was a wiccaphage.

"Thank you." He teleported away, dropped the glob on Tails' workbench and then teleported back to his witch's side. The poor fox just stared for a moment before realizing what happened.

 _Where are you going?_

"We're going into space." Tilly frowned.

Thalassa looked upwards and then back at the human. _Why?_

"It's not safe for us to be here."

 _I see._

"I need to go now. I'm sorry. I'll be back soon." Tilly said.

* * *

"Everyone strapped in?" Eggman looked behind him from the cramped cockpit of his Space Egg Carrier. Sheptilah was his copilot in her own chair while the others were strapped to seats against the wall.

The restraints for all of them were like that of a roller coaster with the bar pulled down over the shoulders with handles to grip on the outside. The vest harness was snug and comfortable.

"Yes," Shadow was seated beside Maw while Nephthys sat alone.

"I won't judge if you scream." Maw said quietly, looking over at Shadow with a knowing grin.

Shadow stared at Maw blankly.

The thylacine flashed his sharp, steel teeth.

Shadow settled back into his seat and exhaled softly.

"Alright." Eggman said. "We've already made sure your safety bars cannot lift up and are pulled down as far as they will go. Double check that they cannot be lifted."

Everyone pushed and pulled on their harnesses, the clicking sounds indicated they were secure.

"Alright, put on your sunglasses, they're under your seats." Eggman instructed.

They each pulled out very dark visors and put them on. It made the cockpit appear to be pitch black.

"Don't take them off until I give the OK," Eggman warned, "You _will_ go blind otherwise." The ship moved out across the water just skimming over the surface.

The ship slowly tilted upwards so it was sitting on its tail vertically. Nephthys' seat positioned her so that she was hanging down over Maw and Shadow. Sheptilah and Eggman were leaning to their side while the front end of the ship rotated so that they were once again seated properly. They were now directly under the sun's bright rays.

"Capcom gives us the all-clear for takeoff. Airspace is clear of planes, satellites and pelicans." MARI said.

The sounds of things moving into place while the ship changed shape was loud and alarming.

"We will be completely converted in about five seconds, hang tight!" MARI enjoyed her role as overseer of operations.

Shadow would never admit it but his heart was racing with terror. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Want me to hold your hand?" Maw said glibly.

" _You will pull back a stump._ " Shadow threatened.

"Gentlemen," Nephthys spoke up, "This is going to be a very long trip if you cannot re-" She was interrupted by a very loud whooshing noise. "If you cannot relax…" She tentatively finished her sentence.

"Liftoff in ten… nine… eight…" MARI began the countdown.

"Oh, my gods." Sheptilah gulped and gripped the handles. "Oh, my gods, I changed my mind!" The ship rumbled.

"Oh, you're feeling _her_ freak out." Maw chuckled.

"Yeah." Shadow lied.

"It's too late now, honey!" Eggman shouted over the noise.

"No, it's not!" Tilly squealed.

Shadow slammed his eyes shut and curled his toes.

"Three… two… one… blast off!"

Sheptilah's shrieks of terror shortly turned into cries of exhilaration as she was flung into space. Within a minute they were at the exosphere.

"Ladies and gentlemen we are now in outer space. You can safely take off your glasses." MARI chirped.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Eggman patted his wife's knee.

"I think I died, Ivo. I thought Rabisu was going to fly out of my chest!" Tilly was shaking from the adrenaline rush. "I have never been flung like that!"

Shadow took off his glasses and looked past the humans' chairs and gazed at the glittering Milkyway just outside the cockpit glass. Maw looked over at the hedgehog who seemed to be dumbstruck by the starlight. A torrent of bittersweet memories flooded back into his brain, threatening to drown him in tears.

"Please remain seated until we are docked at the station." MARI instructed.

The Syzygy canon was so massive it had to be brought to the space station by other unmanned ships and assembled on-site. MARI would not bring the cannon parts to space until they had made it safely on board the massive, rotating behemoth of ceramic and titanium.

* * *

"It's freezing on the station." Sheptilah shivered. The foyer was claustrophobic. The walls were lined with machinery that beeped and whirred quietly. Screens displayed numbers and graphs of things she could never understand.

"Just on this side because it isn't facing the sun. On the other side it's roasting hot! The insulators distribute heat across the ship but it only goes so far. Again, this station isn't built for more than one human on it at a time." Eggman explained. "It's big on the outside because it's all computers and life support machinery like CO2 scrubbers."

"It's… cozy." Maw said. "We're going to become extremely familiar with each other, aren't we?"

"Miss Banana over here likes to sleep _al fresco_." Eggman pointed his thumb at her. "So knock before entering any rooms. They're all connected by doors without any hallways.

"I'm going to kill you." Her cheeks burned, "I'm going to be fully dressed at all times." She tried to reassure the Mobians.

"Even on your honeymoon?" Maw said rather sadly. "What a shame; I do like our empress."

"Is there _anyone_ who doesn't know about our _secret_ marriage?" Eggman was exasperated.

"Thunderbolt." Nephthys said. "Congratulations, by the way. A joyful long life to both of you." The vulture spoke politely.

"Empress…?" Sheptilah sounded confused, "Oh, yes, that's right. You call yourself the Emperor of the Eggman Empire therefore I am now an _Empress_."

"Yes, Lady Sheptilah." The vulture nodded.

"I am now also the King of the Nannae. All one of them." Eggman teased.

"And that makes you Egg Bosses Arch Dukes and Arch Duchesses?" Sheptilah crossed her arms. She never fully thought about the political implications of such a marriage. The occasional idea crossed her mind as she was falling asleep, laughing at the thought of Ivo sitting on a throne atop the now barren ziggurat, giving orders to nobody.

"They're more like knights." Eggman corrected her. "Now follow me." Eggman ushered them through a small door which lead to a larger but still cramped room that contained a big bed, a computer desk and screens on every wall. It connected to four differently colored doors.

"This is our bedroom, love. Nephthys and Maw, your bedroom is through the blue door. It's a converted storage space but you will still find it comfortable. The green door leads to the bathrooms, the red door leads to bulk storage and the orange door leads to the multi purpose room. The multi room is where you will eat, work and play. The various objects you will need for these activities are stored in the walls and floor with collapsible furniture.

"You all must exercise an hour a day at the bare minimum. This is to keep your circadian rhythms, mental and physical health in check. MARI is in control of that room, so simply ask her for things and she will deliver. Be cautious of what you do and say. She has ears and eyes in every room at all times. The only exception is the bathroom. Knock before entering this master bedroom as I may be doing something."

MARI giggled. "There is a limit to how much water you all can use. You are each allotted an amount of water every day that suits your nutritional needs. As far as bathing goes you each get two gallons of water to use per day. You will also be exposed to a sunlamp while exercising so that you don't go nuts in space. It's dark and silent out there."

"Two gallons of water?" Maw was scandalized, ears standing up straight. "I'll never get fully clean!"

"I'm lucky to use dust for my feathers, then." Nephthys replied.

"No dust, Nephythys! It could clog the machinery. I've packed special wipes for you to clean your feathers with!" MARI said. "There are no actual windows on the ship, either. Every 'window' you see is a screen with a camera connected to the outside of the ship. If we had windows you'd sizzle your eyeballs out of your skull when we face the sun! So do not press against the LCDs, thank you."

"Orbot and Cubot will be by with your packed things laid out on your beds." MARI switched to her customer service voice. "If you complain about how long it is taking, you will have to wait even longer to recieve your parcels. If something is broken or missing please note that we do not give a shit."

Sonic and Silver were escorted in by Metal Sonic.

"C-cold!" A bruised and bloody Silver cried. "I should've packed a jacket!"

"What the… _Silver?_ " Tilly turned to the violently shivering hedgehog. His lips were blue and his chattering teeth made it hard to understand him.

"I am… s-s-so c-cold. I snuck aboard t-to supervise and…"

"Jesus fuckin' Christ why is it like the fuckin' middle of winter in Santa's asshole up here?" Sonic huffed, "Fucking hell. God, I feel like I was put on fuckin' ice." He held out a wobbly arm with a bit of bone jutting near the elbow. "Fuckin' criminy, broke my arm, too."

Shadow cocked a brow at Sonic's unusually foul mouth. After a moment he realized what was going on.

"Scourge! Get out of Sonic this instant!" Tilly howled. "Now!"

"Are there any other stowaways?!" Eggman huffed.

"Nah, just us. Fuckin' Silver here didn't realize that I wasn't _really_ Sonic, either. He huddled for warmth in the fuckin' storage boxes but I kept pushing him away." Scourge left Sonic's body. "Yeah, bitch! I'm in fuckin' _space!_ "

Sonic inhaled sharply and coughed. "Don't ever do that again!" He wrapped his good arm around himself, "I feel so violated."

After healing them Sheptilah escorted the two hedgehogs to the bed to curl up under the blankets together. She shot Scourge a dirty look.

"This is going to change some things. Let me recalculate the rations to support these two assholes being on the ship now." MARI huffed.

"Wouldn't Santa's interior be warm?" Cubot asked.

"Why is nothing ever easy!?" Eggman yelled. "I'm sending you both home immediately! If i have to _flush_ you out of the toilet like the turds you are, I will!"

"Ivo…" Tilly shook her head.

"Darling, could you open a portal for them to go home?" His demeanor changed when speaking to his wife.

"I can already tell you I can't pull open portals in space. Not enough living activity to form knots." Tilly stroked Silver's head.

"I have to stay." Silver pulled his notebook from his spikes. "Von Schlemmer wrote that I needed to come but _quietly_. Sonic can certainly go."

"You're both welcome to stay for a bit," Tilly said with a soothing voice.

"Oh, _no_!" Sonic protested. "I didn't ask to be here! I was forced here by Scourge's poltergeist. Last time I was in space with egg-breath over here it ended _terribly_ and I became a werehog. Never again. Do you know how painful it is falling from _space_ into Mobius? Super painful."

Shadow had an idea.

"I'd have to take you back _myself_." Eggman eyed the blue blur. "This ship's only got one emergency pod at the moment and I'm not wasting it on _you_. And guess what? The ship I used to get us here doesn't have enough fuel and needs to have its solar panels charged. Until the ships arriving with the parts to form the Syzygy Cannon arrive I cannot do anything. If you so much as move your toe off of this bed I will have Maw swallow you whole, understood?"

"Are you threatening me with _vore?_ " Sonic narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, that's right. You haven't met Maw before, have you?" Eggman sneered.

"My mouth has been fitted with top secret experimental cybernetics that do way more than just allow me to chew through bones as if they were mozzarella sticks," Maw spoke. His calm, refined Tralian accent hid his dangerous personality. "There would be no trace of you left behind, but to say I would be _eating_ you is incorrect. I will say nothing else on the matter."

"Avoiding junk food, I see." Shadow snidely remarked.

Maw turned to Shadow, looked him up and down then cracked a very slight smile.

Scourge's spirit burst into wild laughter. "Please fucking vore Sonic, oh my God. I will literally do anything you want just please get that shit on film."

"I can _feel_ myself going gray." Eggman whined. "I'm going to look like Gerald before the day is out."


	79. Everytime You Need Me

Everyone's luggage was haphazardly thrown near their respective beds. It was all very dinged up, much to Maw's chagrin. Apparently, Sonic and Silver had used it as a buffer between the sliding supply cubes that nearly crushed them into little hedgehog pancakes.

The sparse room reserved for Maw and Nephthys barely qualified to be a walk-in closet. The only furniture was a strong bunk bed, but the mattresses and linens were mercifully plush like the ones in the master bedroom.

Nephthys packed lightly but Maw was prepared for every possible situation and it showed. Maw heaved the luggage onto the bed and watched as it sunk into the mattress like a stone in water. He somehow crammed everything he'd need into a single carry-on suitcase. No space was wasted but the items were still shaken about and settled as if someone pawed through it.

"Oh, _aces_." Maw huffed. He took the items out one at a time and rearranged them neatly. "Where's my thongs?" The thylacine asked himself. "I know I packed the damn things." He walked up to the two hedgehogs that were still in bed.

"Have either of you gone through my luggage?" Maw put his hands on his hips, his tail wagging with agitation.

"Nah, we didn't open anything." Sonic smoothed down his ruffled spikes.

"Well, my thongs are missing and I _know_ I packed them."

"Your _whats?_ "

"My thongs." Maw tapped his foot. "You know? For when you're showering in a strange place?"

"It's a single bathroom. You don't need any kind of modesty. I'm not even wearing pants. I _never_ wear pants." The cobalt hedgehog snickered.

"No pants," Silver confirmed, "Free-legging it."

"Huh?" Maw scratched behind his ear. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?" The white hedgehog covered his face with a pillow.

"Shadow?" Sonic tilted his head and called for the black hedgehog in the romp room.

" _What?_ " Shadow shouted back.

"Come here, man." Sonic cocked a brow.

Shadow sighed and walked into the master bedroom. "What do you want?"

Silver had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing but his face was twisted in a grin.

"Do you wear thongs in the shower, Shadow?"

"Excuse me?"

"For _modesty._ " Sonic placed his hands in his lap in a demure manner and tilted his head.

"My thongs are missing. God, what do you lot call them?" Maw rattled his brain. The word was on the tip of his tongue.

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Speedos?" Sonic shook his head.

"That's not what he means," Shadow said, "He-"

"Banana hammock!" Silver interrupted.

"Butt floss!" Sonic laughed. "Wedgie maker!"

"Did someone call my name?" Sheptilah came into the room. "I heard someone say _Banana_." She frowned.

"Oh, my God." Shadow regretted ever being born. "He's talking about-"

"You're talking about budgie smugglers or bathers or something else _entirely_. Thongs go on your _feet_." Maw was so frustrated he could kill someone. The tension built up in his shoulders and his neck felt tight.

Shadow tried to speak again. "Maw is talking about-"

"What planet are _you_ from that thongs go on your _feet?_ " Silver piped up.

Shadow threw his hands in the air in surrender. He wasn't going to get a word in edgewise.

"He means _flip-flops._ " Sheptilah tapped her Oracle Stone. "Rabisu is better at translating _slanguage._ So he doesn't get fungus in the communal shower."

"Yes! _That's_ the word. Thank you, Mrs. Eggman." Maw said after releasing a deep sigh of relief.

"Just 'Sheptilah' would suffice." She blushed.

"Apologies, Sheptilah."

"Don't worry about it," the human smiled, "You don't have to be that formal with me."

"Oh! Flip-flops!" Sonic snapped his fingers. "That's so obvious now that I think about it. Sorry for teasing you, Maw. I forget that English has dialects, too."

"Hmm." The thylacine turned to go back to his room and finish rearranging his things.

"I know them as _sandals._ " Shadow said. "But good to know you won't traipse around in such clothing."

"If I did I'd be wearing more than you are now," Maw teased, "Freedom Fighters seem to be more prone to nudity. Eggman's Army has _decorum_."

"Until I came along." Tilly said. She sat down on the bed and combed her fingers through Silver's spikes. "I gave this one quite a start a bit ago."

"Yeah, but it was your big Y-incision that spooked me, not your, uh," he gestured with his hands, "Body. Nude, looted corpses are not unusual in my time, even ones with big cuts from stolen organs. It's just unnerving to see such a thing on a _live_ person."

"Jeez, kid." Tilly scratched behind his ear. "You look like a big marshmallow but you are a war-hardened beast."

Silver tilted his head back and grinned broadly. "What can I say? Hedgehogs are tough!"

"Ah, yes, the incident with Nega. It's infamous among the Empire." Maw approached her. "Foul beast, he is. However, you only lost a pinky to show for it. All in all, I'd say you won." The non-symmetry of her hands, however, was annoying to look at. It was the slightest imperfection but it was more than enough to agitate the thylacine.

"I can't grow back appendages," her lips made a tight line. "I _can_ reattach them, though, if it's not too decomposed."

"Sure, _she_ won but I fuckin' lost!" Scourge's solidified ghost appeared. "I lost my head! That shit don't grow back, either!" He pulled his head off to illustrate it. "This is a cool party trick, though." He rolled his head across his shoulders like a soccer ball and knocked it back into place with his elbow. "I think I'm going to start hiding my head in places."

"Scourge," Sheptilah didn't look up from her work cleaning out the dead spikes from Silver's head. "We're past this." The white hedgehog was close to purring when she took her hands from his head.

"I'm going to die mad about it!" He said. "Okay, I'm going to _be dead_ about it."

Sheptilah leaned over and pulled Scourge by the hand so he was closer. She then gently took hold of his cheeks and straightened his head. "There; much better. You put your head back on crooked."

"Hey-" He protested at first but was distracted when she scratched him behind the ear. "Oh."

"Looks like you learned how to be solid." She grinned. "You're learning really quickly. I've never seen a ghost develop their powers so fast. You still won't show up on film or in silver-backed mirrors, however."

"I can _feel_ that," his transparent ears drooped with pleasure, "Oh, man, I forgot how good that felt. Keep going, I might purr."

Sonic frowned.

"I'm going back to what I was doing." Shadow turned and left.

"By the way, Mr. Bear Trap Mouth," Scourge pulled the flip flops out from behind him. "I recognized your accent and had to fuck around with ya a lil' bit. Was so worth it!"

Maw immediately swiped them from Scourge's hands. "I trust you won't do that again."

"I don't repeat my tricks!" The poltergeist disappeared into the floor. "I got shit to do!"

* * *

The recreation room was set up with soft lighting, comfortable seats and an entire wall dedicated to displaying a video game selection interface. Shadow sat next to Sheptilah on a loveseat, engrossed with reading his novel. The witch drummed her fingers on the lunar staff laid across her lap.

"I wish I was with you in person!" MARI's 3D hologram chirped. "I have lots of games we can play, though! There's rhythm games where you keep up with the arrows by stepping on the correct pads in time with the music, games where you copy my dance moves and games where you play instruments!"

Eggman sat back in a chair and drank his coffee.

"I'm very tired right now, MARI. I'm sorry." Tilly yawned. "Maybe tomorrow. Can you show me the news?"

"Sure! Please select from the following: breaking news, local news, galactic news."

"Local Seaside Island news, please."

MARI gestured to the screen as if she was moving the widgets around like a meteorologist on tv. "The weather is nice and clear! That's about it for the island."

"Breaking news?"

"Nothing too urgent in Northamer. One school shooting with no fatalities reported but fourteen students between the ages of nine and seventeen were injured in some way, however.

One tornado touched down in Kansas- also with no fatalities and to finish up yet _another_ congressman has been accused of sexual misconduct with a child." MARI brushed away the screen and opened a link to the Eggnet.

"Everything is running smoothly in our Eggman Empire! No wiccaphage activity has been reported anywhere globally. Our weapons manufacturing and distribution quotas are exceeding expectation and profits are up thirteen percent _despite_ a nation-wide movement to ban certain types of weapons we manufacture; but not exclusively."

MARI took a breath before stiffening up. "Uh oh."

"What is it?" Tilly leaned in.

"It looks like the school shooting I reported on earlier has a breaking update: the weapon used was one of _ours._ " MARI brought up the specs of what looked like a typical Agram 2000 but with a cherry red magazine and filigree on the barrel. "The model produced by one of your dummy company _Rakushka Weapons Manufacturing._ The weapon was obtained through legal means. Expect stocks to take a brief dip."

Tilly turned to Ivo.

"So what? Our largest weapons buyer is actually GUN. They'd shit their pants if they knew who was _really_ supplying their war tools."

"One of your weapons was used in a school shooting, Ivo." Her expression was very stiff, almost menacing in its lack of emotion.

"The weapon was obtained legally and used by someone with poor judgement and no respect for said weapon. It's misuse is not my fault." He finished off his coffee.

Sheptilah opened her mouth to say something but was silenced by Shadow gently gripping her hand. He did not look up from his tablet. She stood with her staff in hand and teleported to the outside of the station. Protected by a bubble of magic she laid back and looked up at the blinding starlight but couldn't find any constellations she could recognize.

An hour passed before a familiar voice interrupted her deep thoughts.

"Why are you out here?" Scourge popped his head out from between her legs. "You're going to get serious sunburn if the station rotates the other way. Like, your skin is gonna fuckin' peel off like an onion." He pulled himself up and sat beside her.

"I can't recognize any of the constellations. The Milky Way is too dense."

"That's because we're upside down." Scourge pointed to Mobius below. "See how the continents are flipped?"

"I can't even find the North Star."

"Sheptilah, are you listening?"

"My skin won't peel off. My bubble will protect me."

"Listen, babe. What's eatin' ya?"

She simply continued to stare upwards. "What if it was a mistake?"

"What was a mistake?"

"Marrying Ivo. Maybe we're too different… or maybe I'm just too old-fashioned."

"My grandma is old-fashioned. You, lady, are literally ancient. Your morals and his morals ain't gonna line up perfectly every time. You think God looked down on the first humans who bashed each other in the head with rocks and thought 'shit, maybe making them hairless apes was a mistake'? I think your heart just hurts too much for shit you have no way of impacting or controlling."

"Why do you care?"

"'Cuz this drama is better than soap operas. Also, I'm very nosy. Royalty to royalty, babe, people are always gonna do dumb shit for whatever reason. All that's worth worrying about is yourself and your own family. Everything else you deal with as it comes. Shit, even if Eggface didn't make those weapons you think that kid wouldn't have gotten them from somewhere else? Nobody died, so why are you so upset?"

"I'm upset for Silver's future and Shadow's past and Sonic's present. I'm going to die for this planet and I don't know if it's worth saving anymore. Why bother if it's never going to improve?"

"Do you even see _yourself_ as worth saving?" He brushed back his quills.

"No. I'm still suicidal. It's this background radiation in my life. I'm just… I'm so tired. I lost Hebat, I lost my family, I lost my race and then I stole your life. Well, Rabisu did, but we're one being for all intents and purposes."

"Eh, I had it coming." He rested his head on her chest. "Banana-brains, nothing we do is ever going to mean anything in the vast scheme of things. Mobius is the third planet from the sun in an ever-changing solar system on the edge of a galaxy moving through space at insane speeds we can barely comprehend. Human and Mobian life on the planet hasn't even been around longer than slightly over half a million years. There's species of sharks that have existed longer.

"If you wanna die for everyone, fucking go for it. Go out with a huge bang and bright colors. Fuckin' Lisa Frank that shit. Light up the whole sky! Rainbows and glitter. All _you_ can do is leave a room in better condition than when you found it. What the next person does in it isn't your responsibility."

She ran her fingers through his spikes. He felt warm like a living body and she forgot for a moment that he was nothing but a poltergeist that refused to excuse himself from the living plane. His rubbing against her chest did not agitate her Oracle Stone.

"Shake it off, Bananarama. You're an Empress; fucking act like it. Criminy." He threw an arm over her like a snake curls around prey.

"I hate that you're right." She sniffed. "Why are you being so nice?"

"Shit, if you think I'm being nice I'm doing something way wrong." A devilish grin crawled across his face. "I'm just trying to cop a feel."

"No, you're not." She patted him. "You're feeding off my body heat. You're trying to remember what it felt like."

"Okay, fine, you caught me. You're too old and human enough for me anyway." He stuck out his tongue. "Gotta keep up my player cred though so if anyone asks I grabbed a titty."

"Right, like anyone is going to believe you would assault someone like _that_. I… I know who you really are. I saw all of your memories when I healed you."

"You did?" He frowned.

"Yeah. When I have time I think I'm going to take over that Zone and personally rearrange everything."

His ears pointed back. "D-don't bother with that. Nobody needs to know, man."

" _Shadow_ doesn't even know. I have no intention of telling anyone."

"Thanks… I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?"

"I'm sorry." Sheptilah sat up and pulled Scourge in for a tight hug.

"I'm… sorry about everything I did to you. It was fucked up." He buried his face in her chest. "And I'm sorry, Rabisu."

 _You are forgiven_ , the voice spoke to both of them. _It's alright._

"If you tell anyone I said sorry about anything I will do unspeakable things to terrorize your ass for the rest of eternity." Scourge said.

"Nobody would believe me, anyway." She laughed. "Come on, let's go back inside."

"I want to stay up here a bit longer." He said, looking up at the sky. "It's so cool out here."

"Okay, we can stay here for as long as you want."


	80. I Feel It Coming

Sheptilah warped back into the station foyer alone.

"Ti-ti." Shadow approached his witch. "I've been waiting here for you. Are you alright?"

Maw heard them speaking and leaned against the doorway unseen to eavesdrop.

"Am I _ever_ alright?" She leaned her staff against her shoulder. "I was hoping it would just be us three on the station, you know? I wanted to spend a lot of time alone with you and Ivo but…"

"You're feeling choked by the crowded space?"

"Yes. I don't mind Maw or Nephthys at all but I was really hoping it'd just be us."

"I don't know," Shadow tapped his foot, "Seems like Maw has it in for me."

"He's an Egg Boss. They _all_ have it in for you. Break his arm if he keeps bothering you."

Maw raised an unseen eyebrow.

"I don't think I'm going to do that." Shadow adjusted his quills. "He might bite off my head."

"You think you can fit your whole head in his mouth? It's a _huge_ head."

The thylacine chuckled silently.

"Yes, his mouth can open like a lion's." Shadow opened his mouth as wide as he could, baring his fangs and making a low growl. "He could just lop it off like frosting off of a cupcake. Then Nephthys could eat my corpse." He snapped his mouth closed.

" _Be nice_. Nephthys would never. She's a respectable woman." The witch laughed. "Scourge would be upset you're encroaching on his turf if you lose your head, too."

Shadow took the staff from her and held it gingerly. "Don't go outside of the station anymore without a suit. It's very dangerous if your magic fails."

"I was… I wanted to see Mobius. I couldn't focus because I was so numb. I just looked at the stars and I cried because I couldn't recognize any constellations. Then Scourge showed up and rightfully pointed out I was situated upside down so I wasn't going to see any I was familiar with in my hemisphere." She stared at the ceiling as if she was gazing at the sky.

"I feel so small. In the back of my mind I was hoping to float off into space and drift forever."

"I mean this with all the love in my heart but maybe it _is_ time you saw a therapist. You clearly have the same symptoms of PTSD that soldiers face."

 _We feel helpless. When our world was confined to the ziggurat things were difficult but much less so. It is upsetting to hear that the person you married is somewhat responsible for violent crimes committed by others._ Rabisu spoke to them. _We love Ivo very much, but it is sometimes a strain._

"Of course it's a strain," Shadow chuckled, "It's Eggman."

Maw was confused by the lack of proper context. _I know Lord Eggman is difficult at times but why would_ he _give her PTSD? He dotes on her. What happens behind closed doors?_ He frowned. _There's no precedent for him being a domestic abuser..._

Sheptilah smiled a bit. "Yeah."

"Ti-ti, he is not wrong that people don't respect firearms for what they are; but you are also right that they shouldn't be a thing. In a perfect world we wouldn't need weapons. In a perfect world _I_ wouldn't be here."

Maw smiled ever so slightly. _Good, the hedgehog is here for legitimate reasons._ But he still did not outwardly trust him. Maw suspected Shadow was present in an attempt to undermine the Empire through GUN's orders. _I must find out more._

The nape of her neck prickled with turmoil. "But you're my familiar. I can't imagine living without you."

"If we didn't need weapons I wouldn't be alive. Truth is, something is always going to try and kill us. In my case, it was the Black Arms. In your case it is the wiccaphages. The Xorda. Whatever." He pulled on the hem of his gloves. "It's inevitable."

Sheptilah let out a shaky sigh. "Shadow."

"Don't feel disheartened. Just keep resisting. Keep making changes for good and keep making an impact. Maybe convince the Doctor to change his manufacturing habits."

Maw clenched his jaw tightly. _That will screw up my plans! The Doctor's ideals are perfect as-is! She already fucked with our strategies over a year ago by having him stop our projects!_

"Alright, I'll talk to him." She inhaled deeply. "And I will talk to a therapist."

"Good girl." Shadow gripped her hand. "Let's get something to eat."

Maw turned and walked away silently, fists balled.

Her lips turned up in a sideways grin. "Yeah, he should stick to nightclubs and cute little robots like MARI."

"Aw, shucks," MARI beeped. "I love you too, mom."

"Hey!" Tilly giggled. "I miss you! How is KORin?"

"She's fine," MARI snorted, "Just kind of sour as usual."

* * *

Sheptilah changed into her sleeping clothes: a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt with EGGMAN emblazoned across the chest in bold red print. Sonic and Silver were made to sleep in the rec room on the sofa while Nephthys and Maw already retired to their room. Eggman exited the bathroom smelling minty fresh and crawled into bed.

His tired body nearly melted into the soft mattress and he sighed with pleasure. He rolled over to face his wife and flashed a bright grin. "Hi, honey."

She smoothed the comforter over herself and laid back on the pillows with a thump.

Ivo frowned. "Are you still upset with me?"

"No, not anymore." She looked up at the ceiling. "Shadow and I had a chat. I think it's time I did see a therapist."

"You want to go on medication?"

 _Medication wouldn't work for us,_ Rabisu said. _She wants a cognitive behavior adjustment._

"Exactly what they said." She grinned. "But I'm feeling much better; so maybe seeing a professional will help even more."

"So you still love me?"

"Of course, Ivo!"

He slid his hand under the blanket and over to her hip. "Does that mean we can have a little fun?"

"Isn't it a little risky to attempt that given we're _surrounded_ by people?"

He lowered his voice. "Doesn't that make it _more_ fun?"

"No," she lowered her voice as well, "I would rather be as loud as I want to be." She snuggled up to him, "But I can't. Shadow will be in any minute now."

"Oh, yeah. He was supposed to have the sofa but those two little _brats_ stowed away." He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. "I'm glad you're feeling better." He peppered her neck with kisses.

She moaned quietly. "Don't start that; we _can't_ finish."

"I'm trying to make up for upsetting you earlier," he pressed his tongue into her sensitive flesh just under her jaw. "I know how you like it."

"Ivo," she wrapped her arms around him, "Maybe we should take this to the bathroom. It's big enough for two."

He growled playfully. "What about your claustrophobia?"

"A few orgasms in and I _may_ forget all about it."

He scooped her up into his arms carried her to the bathroom. Locking the door behind him he pressed her against it and pulled down her sweatpants. "Don't use your magic," he whispered. "None of that cheating."

"You're feeling confident." She blushed. The room was pitch black and she couldn't see him. She heard a rustling sound and then felt something warm on her torso.

She moaned softly when he gripped her bare ass with his hands. "You can't get away with everything just because you-"

Maw covered his head with the pillow and groaned. _Why won't the heteros shut up?!_ He thought. _Do they not realize I can hear them!?_ He was very jealous of Nephthys being a heavy sleeper.

"Oh, my God," Maw buried his face in the mattress. _I hate my big, sensitive ears. Me and my big mouth! I can only_ imagine _how Shadow reacts to this._

The thylacine got up and remade his bed with military precision. He looked through his bag to find his earplugs were missing and assumed Scourge had taken them, too. He trudged into the rec room to look for something to stuff in his ears.

He tiptoed past Sonic and Silver curled up together in a messy pile of limbs and was surprised to see Shadow standing on the opposite end of the room looking the screen displaying the stars outside the cold titanium walls. The hedgehog's hands were behind his back and he seemed to be thumbing something pink and heart-shaped in his fingers.

Maw carefully approached Shadow from the side and stood beside him.

"If they're being too loud you can just bang on the door." Shadow said quietly without moving.

"It would be rude of me to interfere." Maw spoke just as softly. "Besides, embarrassing Lord Eggman is a faux pas."

"For me it is my job to embarrass him."

"So it is bothering you as well?"

"Mm." Shadow grunted, not indicating one way or the other. "I'm looking at the stars."

"They _are_ beautiful, but the screen adds slight distortion to the view. Too bad this station doesn't have proper glass windows to peer from."

"Is there something you need, Maw?" Shadow sighed.

"I am just looking for intelligent conversation, sir."

"It is scarce up here, isn't it?" Shadow smirked.

"May I ask what it is like having a witch to yourself? Must be unique to share such a bond." Maw spoke with as genuine a tone as possible.

"It's like having any other sibling." Shadow ran his tongue over his teeth. "Except my sibling is a five thousand year old fairy who hates wearing shoes."

"Is she a fairy or a witch?" Maw raised an eyebrow.

"She's somewhere between both."

"Perhaps a genie? That would explain the claustrophobia."

"She certainly isn't a genie. She doesn't truly know how to categorize herself. She just accepts whatever you call her. It's easier to refer to her as a fae, although it is a very broad term and can include beings like Sonic and Silver."

"Unlike you, who knows who he is: The Ultimate Lifeform. The perfect being. Flawless symmetry in both power and figure."

Shadow side-eyed the thylacine. "Hm."

"What?" He smiled glibly.

"What do you want?"

"I just thought I'd come over and say hello. Since you are unfamiliar with me I figured you'd appreciate a more _intimate_ introduction."

"You're looking at me like you are thinking about eating me." Shadow said flatly.

"Hm?" Maw's ears pinned back for a moment before he stiffened up and adjusted his gloves. "Good heavens, no. Thylacines don't eat hedgehogs. I'd be pulling spikes out of my mouth for a year. I prefer my meat to be of the marsupial variety. Besides, mobini hedgehogs are illegal to own in Downunda. Invasive species."

"As if the law would stop someone like you."

"Or _you_." Maw's self-satisfied grin nearly took up his whole muzzle. "I don't dabble in animal smuggling."

"What _do_ you dabble in?" Shadow stuffed the scale back into his glove.

"Scientific experiments involving robotics, gold mining and of course some jewelry making."

"Jewelry?" Shadow wanted to laugh at the unexpected answer.

"Yes, we have some of the most abundant opal mines in Downunda. My base happens to be situated right next to one. Opals are excellent for extracting ancient water samples and selling the jewelry makes for good income. I do have to admit, though, the one in our Empress' chest is far more beautiful than any we've unearthed. I've never seen one so large."

"It is _not_ for decoration." Shadow's face became serious. "It's part of her skeletal system."

"Really?" Maw licked his upper lip. "So she has an extra organ."

"So to speak…" Shadow chose his words carefully. "It is more like extra bones than organs."

"Is _that_ the Rabisu she spoke of earlier?"

"Yes." He confirmed. _Might as well since she spilled the beans on her own…_

"Huh." Maw turned to the screen and admired the starlight. "Strange Universe we live in. Nephthys told me the Nannae were healers, but the way she described it made it seem like they used alchemy to create medicine instead of using magic. So she's two people in _one_. It's almost romantic."

Shadow remained silent, peering over the blonde with mindful detail.

Maw looked at the ebony hedgehog with a special kind of hunger. "She spoke of the being as if they were a person. At first, I assumed she was talking about _you_."

 _He's too intelligent,_ Shadow thought. "I am her _familiar,_ but I am her equal in terms of family bonds. I too, am considered the king, just as she is the queen."

"So if you are her equal and royalty, does that imply you are _also my_ boss?" A sly grin spread across Maw's mouth. His shiny white teeth reflected the dim glow of the screen.

 _Who is this guy? And what_ is _a thylacine, anyway? Sounds venomous._ Shadow considered this for a moment.

"If so, then we'd have to obey your every command…" He straightened the straps on his uniform. "No matter _what_ it is."

"I don't believe the Doctor extends such privilege to me, but you should still operate under the assumption that I am your superior; because I _am_. In every meaning of the word."

Maw moved in closer. "Is that so? It seems I was correct in assuming I am to serve and _satisfy_ your every whim."

Shadow turned to face him. He was pushed back against the screen by the more dominant male.

"I crave order and perfection, Shadow; and you are _perfection_." Maw licked his lips and placed his hands beside Shadow's head, careful to not touch his quills or press too hard on the screen. "A refined, genetically engineered example of what to be and _how_ to be it." He kept his voice to a deadly, quiet growl.

Shadow clenched his fist, ready to fight. He looked over to see if the other two hedgehogs were awake, but they were not. He too kept quiet so as to not wake the others. If Maw was looking to tussle, Shadow had to be careful to not make a hole in the wall and suck everyone out into the deadly vacuum of space. Sonic and Silver were a liability, knowing the two may be reckless enough to do just that completely by accident.

The vision of a flash of teeth entered his mind, assuming the thylacine wanted to swallow him whole like a Langolier. His heart pounded in his chest but his eyes remained fixed on Maw's violet, half-lidded and almost daydream-y gaze.

Shadow's eyebrows shot up with realization. His cheeks grew warmer and his breath quickened against his will.

The thylacine leaned in and gently kissed Shadow's neck, careful to not alarm him. Shadow almost didn't feel the incredibly light touch.

The hedgehog was frozen in place. Never before had been confronted in such a way and his eyes darted back to the sleeping boys who remained undisturbed.

"Why is your heart beating so fast?" Maw whispered, his lips still touching Shadow's jugular. "I am not going to hurt you." He rolled the tip of his tongue in tiny circles. "Just the opposite."

Shadow's body hitched ever so slightly. His ears felt hot and his tail was pointed downward.

Scourge popped his head through the ceiling. He did not like Shadow's body language in this moment and floated down to the floor, still invisible. He couldn't decide if he should interfere or not and observed a bit longer.

Maw felt emboldened by the hedgehog's lack of clear objection and moved upwards to his jaw. Shadow swallowed hard. Maw traced a finger up and along Shadow's collarbone, cupping the hedgehog's warm cheek in his other hand.

Scourge's unseen and unwell spirit made the temperature drop in the area they were standing in.

"What's wrong, Master?" He teased. "I know where we can sneak off to to finish what we started," he purred, "You're so warm..."

Shadow concentrated on controlling his breathing, keeping it slow and calm. Maw leaned in, pressing his forehead to Shadow's; their lips almost touching. He noticed the hedgehog's eyes were wide and alarmed while his lips were pressed into a tight line.

Maw stepped back, releasing his hold on the hedgehog.

" _Don't_ call me that." Shadow furrowed his brow. His cheeks erupted in a hot, prickly flush.

"Alright, I won't." Maw stuck out his tongue playfully. "What do you want me to call you?"

Shadow curled his lip, bearing a fang.

"Oh; I see." His ears drooped a bit, heart sinking. "I apologize for crossing a line. Seems I _misread_ some signals."

Shadow straightened up and stared at the thylacine who seemed genuinely regretful. "It's unwise to get too close to a hedgehog like me." He said with confidence. "Don't do that again."

Maw frowned. "I assure you I will not." He crossed his arms.

Shadow turned to leave but was interrupted mid-step.

"I mean it; I'm sorry, Shadow. Your discomfort was not my goal."

"I know. Don't worry about it; I'm not _offended_." Shadow said under his breath. "Just know your place."

"What does _that_ mean?" Maw grit his teeth.

Shadow looked back over his shoulder. "It means you don't finagle with your superior officer."

The blonde relaxed. "Are you alright?"

Shadow did not answer and left the room with his head and tail down.

"Jeez, stupid!" Scourge said to Maw. "You don't just corner somebody."

Maw jumped at the sudden voice.

"I almost fuckin' killed you, man."

"How long have you been spying?" Maw put his hands on his hips and looked around but saw nothing.

"Long enough." Scourge made himself visible. "Dude. If he didn't kill you _I_ was gonna."

"You can't just sneak up on a person like _that._ " Maw turned to face the specter.

"How do you think Shads felt?" Scourge huffed. "Dumbass."

"Why would _you_ care about Shadow?" Maw was embarrassed and tried to hide it.

"Dude's a trained war machine. If you're not direct with him he's going to assume you're attacking him, ya moron."

The room's temperature returned to normal.

"If he freaks out his _witch_ is gonna feel it and then what happens? She blows in here like a tornado and rips you in half. All I did was cut off a pinky and she removed my fucking _head_."

"I was told that is not _all_ you did."

"Fine, whatever." Scourge put up his hands. "That's her _little brother_ , man. Gentle with him, ok? Criminy."

"This stays between us-" Maw demanded.

"Hey, I ain't in the business of outtin' nobody," Scourge waved him off. "I dunno how you run shit where you're from but-"

"I realize this;" Maw pinched the bridge of his nose, "I was reckless and jumped the gun."

" _Ya think?_ " Scourge disappeared. "I don't think he was you just startled him. He has a rough time in space."

"Explain."

"How do you _not_ know this shit? For fuck's sake. He hates being in space. He's on edge all the time and being up here makes it worse."

Maw's stomach turned.

"That and you got that fucking mouth made for guillotining off a cock or two and you _kiss_ him? _On the jugular?_ "

"Fair."

"Yeah. How are you this fuckin' dumb?"

 _I think online dating has dulled my senses..._ He lied to himself.

"You're cute but _stupid,_ Maw."

"I'll discuss it with him tomorrow…"

"Shit, I wish I had some popcorn. Fuckin' _Real Housewives of Eggman's Space Station_ type drama. What is it about space that makes everyone horny idiots? Have y'all ever _seen_ a horror movie? It's gotta be the over-filtered air."

"Speaking of boundaries," Maw changed the subject, "Perhaps you should stop making it a habit of spying on people."

"I ain't ever said I wasn't a damn hypocrite. You do as I say not as I fuckin' do, alright? I'm trying to keep you idiots alive; this is high quality entertainment."

Maw looked at Sonic and Silver, still asleep in a knotted tangle of limbs like they passed out in the middle of a game of Twister.

"How do they sleep like that?" Maw made himself a cup of coffee.

"Beats the shit out of me." Scourge shrugged. "Sometimes Banana-butt and Eggface wake up the same way. I guess if you're tired enough people will just sleep through anything."

"Hm..."

* * *

Shadow removed his shoes and crawled into bed with Sheptilah and Eggman. He curled up under her arm and sighed. She instinctively pulled him in for a tight hug and rested her cheek on his shoulder.

Although Shadow felt comfortable he was unable to sleep and stared at the ceiling, his mind filled with thoughts about the strange and unfamiliar excitement he felt bouncing around in his chest. He blushed and covered his face with his hands in an attempt to hide his growing embarrassment.


	81. Leave The Light On

"Wake up." Maw leaned against the back of the sofa with a cup of coffee in hand. "It's seven in the morning."

Sonic opened his eyes to Silver's boot in his face.

"How do you sleep like that?" Maw looked very tired and his fur had a slight oily sheen to it.

Silver lifted his head from the sofa cushion. "Hm? Where am I?"

"Get your gross shoe out of my face, augh!" Sonic tried to untangle himself but nearly got kneed in the mouth for his troubles.

Eventually the two were able to disconnect with Maw's assistance.

"Silver crawls around in his sleep like a spider." Sonic huffed. "This is why he's never invited to sleepovers."

"I thought you two were a couple for a moment." Maw teased.

"Nah, he likes this cat named Blaze." Sonic grinned. "She's a _princess_."

"Shut! Up!" Silver swatted at the cobalt hedgehog, his face red.

" _See?_ " Sonic put up his hands defensively.

Silver sat back with his arms crossed in a huff. Maw chuckled quietly.

Sonic hopped off the couch and rubbed his hands together. "Alright, gimme some grub, MARI!"

"Make your own damn food, you rat." MARI chirped. "Just kidding! Mom asked me to be nice. What do you want?"

"Ya got any chili dogs?"

"Uh, no, we don't have anything with beans in it because of the tight quarters. Can't have you idiots farting nonstop in a space this small. I can make you a hot dog and put some hot sauce on it, though."

"That'll work…" Sonic waited for the meal to pop out of a microwave-type box on the wall.

Maw panicked. He forgot MARI was watching and listening and she may have recorded what happened last night. _My career may be at stake. I may even be executed. How could I be so reckless?!_ He rubbed his neck with his hand. He imagined being roboticized slowly and painfully and then fed into a giant crucible to be melted down into a toaster. He put his cup down and hastily left the rec room.

The thylacine opened the door slowly and peered into the master bedroom. Sheptilah and Shadow were still in bed while Eggman was in the shower singing to himself before cursing the two gallon water rule.

"Let's face the music and- FUCK!" Eggman howled. "MARI!"

Maw tiptoed past the bed so as to not wake them and accidentally kicked a small white box across the floor. _Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…_ He cursed to himself.

Shadow sat up and looked at Maw with a tired and concerned expression. Evidently, the hedgehog was awake the whole time.

Sheptilah muttered something in Nannaeic before rolling over the edge of the bed. Maw instinctively dove and caught her before her head hit the floor.

"Good morning, Lady Sheptilah." Maw whispered.

"What the…" She yawned. "Aw, Hell. Thanks, Maw." She groaned and lifted herself onto the bed. "I'm used to the bed being a lot larger. Could roll over twice before you were near the edge. What time is it?"

"It's a bit after seven in the morning, my lady." He straightened his uniform.

"Ugh, go back to sleep!" Tilly covered her head with a pillow. "How can you be up so early?"

Shadow got out of bed and put his skates back on.

"Lord Eggman has been awake for over an hour. He had some breakfast then left to take a shower." Maw grinned.

"So why are _you_ up?"

"Night watch." Maw lied. "Thylacines are generally nocturnal."

" _Night watch?_ " Sheptilah sat up and let the pillow fall into her lap. "That's what MARI is for. Just relax."

Shadow faced away from them and fluffed his spines.

Eggman opened the door from the bathroom and was fully dressed. His eyes were shut and he cleaned his glasses on the tail end of his shirt. "Good morning my little love muffin!"

He put his glasses back on and saw he was facing Maw. "You're not my love muffin."

"No, sir." The thylacine stepped out of the way.

"Good morning, honey." Sheptilah said sweetly. "Go the fuck back to sleep!" She huffed. "The sun's not even up."

"Sweetheart, because of the way we rotate around Mobius the sun rises sixteen times in a twenty-four hour period..."

Sheptilah shook the hair out of her face and glamourized herself clean and kempt. "Yeah, you got me there."

"A properly maintained circadian rhythm is what keeps you young and healthy, my dear." Eggman straightened out his buttons. "Good morning, Shadow."

The hedgehog didn't respond.

"Is there anything I can get for you, Lord Eggman?" Maw bowed slightly. _Maybe he'll impose tenure so I'm not publicly executed,_ he thought.

"Oh, no, but thank you, Maw." Ivo said. "The bathroom's free if you would like to use it now. You look uncharacteristically scruffy. What the _Hell_ have you been doing?"

Before Maw could answer the gravity gave out and objects floated upward.

"What the…" Eggman said. "MARI! What's wrong with the artificial gravity!?"

"Metal Sonic is checking on it now." The robot said. "Something has damaged it. Looks like a piece of debris the size of a grain of sand hit the drive and damaged it. Metal is soldering it back together as we speak."

Sheptilah took hold of her staff and sat on it, able to float in mid-air with magic. Shadow kicked from the wall and went into the rec room. He saw Silver floating in the same way as Sheptilah and Sonic 'swimming' in air trying to get his lost hot dog.

Shadow went back to the master bedroom and saw Nephthys had joined. "The two in there are alright."

"Brace yourselves." MARI announced over the PA.

After a second the gravity came back on and everyone was thrown to the floor except Sheptilah and Silver. The woman struggled to stay afloat.

"What's wrong!?" She cried out. It felt like something was dragging her down.

"The gravity is too high," Maw struggled to breathe, "MARI!" His jaw felt like it was being pulled from its sockets.

"Working on it…" The robot said. "Metal, you went too fucking hard!"

After a moment the gravity returned to normal and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Metal apologizes for the inconvenience. I apologize for his existence." MARI chirped.

"Is anyone hurt?" Tilly called.

She was met with groans but no alarming yells. She landed softly on the ground.

"MARI, get the space suits ready." Eggman said.

* * *

In the rec room Eggman stood before a screen showing the specifications of the suits he presented to everyone.

"This suits are not built to protect you in outer space for the long term, but the CO2 filter on your backs will keep you alive with fresh air until you starve to death." Eggman demonstrated. The skin-tight suits were a deep crimson with EGGMAN printed up the leg in white.

The 'backpack' was oval, white and resembled an egg and laid flat against the back. The helmets covered their heads completely and were special made to fit the Mobians' animalistic features.

The matching boots were thick and demonstrated the ability to rocket short distances and protected the feet from slippage. Hidden pockets in the boots contained emergency flares, miniature knives and a pack of plastic stickers for covering punctures.

"They'll protect you from radiation, heat loss and depressurization but that's all. Keep the suits on and the helmets nearby while you are on the ship in case something else goes higgeldy piggeldy." Eggman sighed.

"You had some just for us?" Sonic raised a brow.

"No, they are 3d-printed on demand." Eggman explained.

Sheptilah snapped her fingers and was dressed in the gear. She saw her suit was special: there was a bubble for Rabisu that was protected with the same transparent material as the helmet's visor and, once again, resembled a triple moon goddess symbol with Rabisu representing the full moon between two crescents.

"It feels like I'm naked and I'm not sure this is something I like," Sheptilah looked down at herself. "It's so weird."

"A good space suit feels that way." Eggman nodded. "It should feel like a second skin."

Shadow was distracted. He couldn't get the thoughts of how that kiss felt on his neck and Maw's fingertip tracing his collarbone. It was like electricity running up his body, igniting some curious and previously unknown flame. The rush made his stomach feel funny and his chest airy. He had no idea what it meant but he wanted more. He wanted to know where these new feelings would take him but was terrified at the consequences.

"Shadow?" Tilly patted his head, "You ok? You're really quiet."

"Hmm?" Shadow looked up. "Sorry, just thinking."

Tilly smiled. "Let's get some lunch, huh? Then you can wipe the floor with me playing poker."

Shadow briefly locked eyes with Maw and then looked away. "Yeah, I could eat."

* * *

The rest of the evening was uneventful. While Sheptilah and Eggman were video chatting with a therapist in the master bedroom- Shadow, Maw and Silver were running on treadmills to fill their exercise quota. Nephthys was in her room running the wipes over her feathers to clean them and Sonic battled MARI in a puzzle game that required matching colored blobs.

"The suit doesn't feel that great on my tail," Silver said. "Feels weird."

"It's no different than some Extreme Gear uniforms," Shadow said.

"I'm a bit jealous of Nephthys. She doesn't have a tail." Maw said, looking at the screen displaying their vitals.

"Unusual for a bird-type Mobian, isn't it?" Silver said between huffs.

"I suppose for some feathered species." Maw said. "Are you okay over there?"

"Nope, I'm dying," Silver was sweaty and panting very hard. He stopped running to catch his breath. "I gotta stop flying everywhere…"

"Should I call for Sheptilah?" MARI asked him.

"No, I'm okay," he wheezed and laid down on his back.

"Then get the FUCK off of my machine!" MARI turned on the treadmill to shove Silver to the floor.

Sonic fell back onto the sofa laughing, having to pause the game and wipe tears from his eyes. "Silv! Maybe next time you should do weight lifting!"

Shadow refused to make eye-contact with Maw and just stared straight ahead at the screen. The thylacine soon quit and rehydrated. He guzzled an entire bottle of water effortlessly.

Maw made his way to the exit to go shower.

Shadow followed him to the door. "Come with me."

He knocked before entering the master bedroom and going to the foyer. Evidently Sheptilah and Eggman were back in the bathroom together so Shadow was able to sneak off with Maw.

"I observed Orbot and Cubot coming through here." Shadow lifted a panel to reveal a small door and crouched to step through it.

"What are you doing?" Maw said.

"Just follow me." Shadow's voice echoed.

"As you wish." The thylacine hesitantly climbed in.

The room was pitch black so Shadow lit the way by making a small acid green will-o-the-wisp that floated in his hand.

It was a maze of storage cubes, some opened and some not, with large gaps between each one. Shadow led Maw as far back as they could go.

"This is the only room without microphones or cameras." Shadow said under his breath.

Maw's chest tightened. _What is Shadow planning?_ For a moment, he feared for his life.

"What are you doing?" The thylacine finally asked.

"I want to talk to you about yesterday."

"I made a mistake that I will not repeat. I don't know how else to let you know I'm being sincere short of never talking to you again. I-"

"I want you to do it again." Shadow said quietly. His heart was beating at a record pace and a warm tingle pooled in his stomach.

"Come again?" Maw was suspicious.

"I want you to do it again," Shadow repeated. "Kiss me."

" _Seriously?_ "

"Don't take so long that I'll change my mind."

"Alright," Maw carefully approached Shadow who was leaning against the wall. He could see the black hedgehog's fanged smirk illuminated in the dim green light.

"What happens between us stays between us." Shadow warned.

"Nobody would believe me anyway," Maw ran his hand over Shadow's hip. "Nothing leaves this space, I promise."

Shadow pulled Maw in closely and inhaled his musky scent. The thylacine gently kissed the hedgehog's covered neck and slowly made his way to Shadow's cheek. "Why did you change your mind?"

"I decided I liked the new experience and wanted to try more."

"You've never kissed another man before?"

"I've never kissed _anyone_ before."

Maw paused for a second and tilted his head. "How old are you, again?"

"I'm legally seventy years old but biologically I am twenty."

"That's what I thought…" Maw breathed a sigh of relief. "So you've never…?"

"Never."

"And you want _me_ to be your first? Here? _Now?_ "

"It's not rocket science, Maw. I just want you to kiss me." Shadow licked his lips.

"You don't want it to be special?"

"Who says this isn't special?" He couldn't believe those words just left his mouth.

Maw's face flushed. He was skeptical but decided to jump in anyway.

The thylacine gently took hold of Shadow's hips and trailed his hands upwards to unzip the uniform. He slowly pulled down the tab so as to not yank on the soft chest fluff, enjoying every aching second of it.

Shadow let the will-o-the-wisp nearly extinguish.

"Leave the light on, babe," Maw begged, "I want to see your face."

Shadow let the wisp drop to the ground and grow in size like a bonfire at their feet. Two daring beings unhurt by the flames between them; immortal in that one moment. Shadow expected the kiss to hurt in a way, given Maw's metal sharp teeth and hard jaw.

But it didn't. It was soft and warm and it felt like coming home after a long day in the freezing rain.

The thylacine felt hot and his fur divinely soft despite being damp with sweat from the workout. Although he was not as physically strong as Shadow, the hedgehog still noted how well taken care off his body was and enjoyed feeling it on top of his own.

Maw did not want to press his luck by going too fast. Quick pecks were followed by longer, drawn out kisses so tender it didn't seem real. The thylacine was careful in how he 'pet' Shadow's spines so that he would not skewer his hands on them or hurt the other. He helped the hedgehog's arms out of his space suit before removing his down to the waist.

Maw gently ran his tongue over Shadow's so as to not alarm him, gently gripping the base of his tail. Shadow maintained a sense of control by keeping his hands on Maw's shoulders in case he felt the need to push the other away. He relaxed and felt safe in the blonde's arms but wasn't sure why. Each twist of their tongues made Shadow feel hotter and more constrained by his tight suit and he desperately wanted to be out of it. Maw lightly pressed his hips into Shadow's and moved back and forth in slow, agonizingly pleasurable motions. The hedgehog's muscles tightened and he moaned into his experienced lover's mouth.

" _Fuck_ , you're so hot," Maw purred. He felt something poke him below the belt.

He pulled back. "Do you want to go further?" The blonde thylacine asked, nearly breathless.

"How much further?" Shadow had no idea what that meant. Then he realized he had an erection and Maw noticed. Shadow's cheeks burned with embarrassment.

"Sorry," Shadow swallowed.

"Don't be," Maw chuckled, "That's good; I'm doing something right."

The hedgehog kept quiet and gripped Maw's shoulders like he was going to fly away but refused to make eye contact.

"I don't think I'd ever have expected you to act this shy," Maw frowned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm new to this. I've never had such feelings so I'm unsure about some things."

"What do you mean?"

"My alien anatomy, for one. I can never know how long I'll stay this way. Sometimes I imagine one day I'll wake up in a cocoon and emerge some time later looking more like my Black Arms ancestry." Shadow chose his words carefully, "I suppose the urge to _mate_ is new to me, too."

" _Mate?_ We're just kissing. Sex takes a lot more than just hoping for the best."

"Eh?"

Maw hung his head and giggled.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"Yes," he sniffed, "It's not the same when it's two people like us. You have to _prepare_."

"I'm at a loss, here."

"I don't have my condoms or lubricant on me, Shadow."

The hedgehog could die. His ears felt so hot he was sure steam poured from them.

"Besides, I don't think I want to do _that_." He kissed Shadow's forehead. "That's supposed to be special, you know? I'm just wanting to have some fun. Had I known your… _history_ , I wouldn't have bothered. I don't want you to turn around and hate me because you regret it."

"I'm not a child, Maw."

"I know, but…"

"Fine. How many lovers _have_ you had?"

Maw blinked.

"How many?"

"I'm thinking…"

"Are you seriously trying to count them all?"

"I'm trying to figure out what counts."

"Oh, my God."

"Three," he finally answered. "And that's the truth."

"Given your pause I was expecting a number to the nth power."

"I'm not that prolific, unfortunately." The thylacine teased. "It really should be _four_ ," Maw pulled Shadow close, "I like perfect, even numbers."

Shadow gulped, "Play your cards right and..." The boldness in that statement surprised them both. _Something about this thylacine is making me too... open._ "Never mind."

"My sister's first lover was a succubus. Eggman is only her second and he's apparently her true love. These things don't really matter. We're just killing time here."

Something about that statement made Maw's heart ache.

"It doesn't matter until you decide it _does_ matter." Maw pulled him to the floor by his wrists and leaned against the wall. He moved so that Shadow was sitting in his lap. "In this moment I'm relinquishing control of my body to you, Master."

"Don't call me that," Shadow swallowed.

A bolt of lightning ran up Shadow's spine. He fell back into the rhythm of things and greatly enjoyed the feeling of the thylacine running his hands over his body.

"Sorry," Maw removed his gloves so he could better understand the lithe muscles under black fur. To have this perfect creature in his arms was intoxicating. "Do with me as you please."

In the back of Shadow's mind he was cursing himself. _An Egg Boss! Of all people! I don't even know him that well!_ He remembered how gingerly he interacted with everyone. The way he just naturally dove to catch Sheptilah and the teasing way he offered his hand to hold when he knew the person beside him was quietly panicking.

Even the way Maw approaches Sonic and Silver. Always from the side so as to not startle them. He thought about Cassia and Clove, Nephthys and Axel. All of them were making the best out of a bad situation with Eggman and it was likely Maw was as well.

"Why are you here?" Shadow broke the kiss.

"You brought me down here."

"I mean in the Empire."

Maw sighed and straightened up.

"This world we live in is chaotic at best. People kill each other for food, money... all kinds of stupid reasons that are completely preventable." He shook his head.

"We need this world brought under control and kept sane. I've seen people freeze to death because they had no homes. Under Eggman's rule we'd all have enough food and housing. He doesn't care about anyone's sexuality or gender. One of my underlings was able to get reassignment surgery because of his generosity."

" _Eggman_ performed that?"

"Oh, good heavens, no. Just bankrolled it as a bonus for signing up in the army. His science is keeping Cassia alive. His science repaired Nephthys' face so that she could eat, see, hear and breathe normally again. Thylacine jaws are weak, Shadow. They fall apart on us before we're done with puberty. Our lifespan is shorter than other Mobians because of that and our mobini counterparts are extinct because of some prejudice that led to their massacre by hunters."

Maw swallowed, "There's only a few hundred thylacine Mobians left in the world."

"Thylacines are endangered?"

"Yes; can you imagine me, a gay one? Getting kicked out is easy but being accepted is not. I was welcomed here with open arms.

"Nobody starves in the Empire. We're given cutting-edge educations by highly trained scientists and doctors. I have degrees in chemistry and robotics because of the Empire. In a perfect world there is no war because we are all one country united. Nobody dies of preventable diseases or birth defects. Nobody is murdered because they are LGBT."

"Maw, GUN offers housing, education and medical care for all recruits."

"I want to reiterate to you that I am _gay_. We weren't always welcome in those spaces."

"Oh…" Shadow frowned.

"Yes, sometimes the Doctor's methods _are_ extreme, but in the end we're making advancements in technology at lightning speeds. Comparatively we're improving infrastructure within our bases faster than any other country on Mobius _in history_. We're safe in our bases, or we _were_ before the wiccaphages showed up."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm so jealous of you," Maw ran the back of his hand across Shadow's jaw. "Perfect inside and out. You never get sick and you rarely get hurt. That's not the lived reality for many people."

"I know."

Maw's face became grave. "Do you, now? How many members of the Empire's army have you killed, Shadow?"

Silence.

"How many of them were trying to find safety and protection there when they had no other choice?"

"I've not killed any of Eggman's people. I have killed living beings, yes, but none of the living members of this army. Just many, many robots. We at GUN know many people join because Eggman himself forces it so they have no choice."

"Many of us have no choice even when it's no fault of Eggman's. Sheptilah is upsetting a lot of balances."

"How so?"

"We all had to stop our projects over a year ago because she demanded it. My base was shut down and kept to a skeleton crew to keep it barely maintained. We did our best to ration our opals out for monetary security among those laid off but it was not easy. She did not understand what was happening so she could never have known, but it was hard for all of us.

"Now that they're married, I'm unsure of our future and I don't know what is going to happen. If they're shut down so many people are going to die from starvation."

"She'd never allow that."

"What happens and what she allows to happen are not mutually exclusive."

"Fair enough."

"It's rare for Egg militia that aren't robots to die. What's the rate of death for GUN officers?"

"We handle more than just mercenary work. We also are the first to respond to global disasters. The numbers are skewed in your favor. That's not an even comparison."

"Even if you take those factors out, we're still less likely to die on a year-by-year basis."

"I understand your point of view, Maw, but I don't agree. If you like I can get you a safe position at GUN and get you and your underlings to a protected place far from Eggman's reach."

"I appreciate the offer but I decline it with great prejudice. I swore my undying loyalty to the Eggman Empire."

"I won't hold anything but your actions against you."

"Thanks, Shadow." He sighed. "But I'd rather hold you against me."

"Oh, my God." He groaned.

Maw grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Come here." Shadow leaned back onto the floor and pulled Maw on top of him. "Let's not get distracted and forget why I brought you down here."

"Gladly." Maw moved between Shadow's legs and rubbed against him.

A hot moan unexpectedly flew out of the hedgehog's mouth and surprised them both.

"Oh, you _liked_ that." Maw said smugly. "Want some more?"

Shadow bucked his hips a bit. "Take a wild guess."

Maw kissed his lover's neck and gently suckled on the flesh. The unique sensation sent waves of arousal through Shadow's body, culminating the return of the erection. The thylacine gently ground against the hedgehog, careful to not squish him or hurt him by forcing his spines in the wrong direction.

"You're so hot," Maw muttered, "Even your little moans are divine."

"Shut up." Shadow huffed. "I've never felt lust before."

"Oh, _now_ you are just trying to butter me up."

"I could kill you right now, you know that?"

"That's what's so hot," Maw teased. "Hey," his face turned serious. "I'm sorry for startling you last night."

"I already forgave you. You're grinding yourself halfway into my abdomen, _it's fine._ "

"I'm just _really_ making sure." Maw ran the tip of his tongue in circles around the wet spot he created in the crook of Shadow's neck. "I really do like you."

"I know," the hedgehog grabbed Maw's ass.

" _G'day_ , mate…" Maw laughed. "Havin' fun down under?"

"Well _that_ made your accent stronger…" Shadow snickered.

"Listen, if I used my natural dialect you wouldn't know what's going on. Remember the thongs incident from earlier? You thought I was talking about budgie smugglers."

A pause and then:

"What's a budgie?"


	82. Saturnz Barz

"Stop crying." Eggman tried to console his wife after she ran into the bathroom.

She splashed cold water on her face. The rough feeling in her throat made it hard to talk. "I'm alright," she said. "I'm just overwhelmed. I feel relieved."

"Good therapy does that." Ivo patted her back.

"I do feel much better." She stood up, straightening her clothes. "Thank you. Let's get some dinner."

Eggman leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. "Let's get you fattened up."

"Ooh," She blushed, "Then I won't fit in my suit!"

"It stretches! Otherwise you wouldn't be able to breathe."

They laughed at each others' jokes and entered the rec room to find Sonic and Silver were arguing about who cheated whom.

"You can't cheat at _war_ ; it's literally just math," Sonic huffed. "If you cannot count to ten that is not my problem." He shuffled the deck with extreme speed and precision.

"How do I know you're not just moving really fast to give you winning cards?"

"Have I ever cheated at _anything?_ " Sonic sounded hurt.

"I was just teasing, Sonic." Silver frowned. "You okay?"

"Sorry, I'm just going nuts up here. I need to _run_ or I'm going to go crazy."

"Hi, boys. Where's Shadow?" Tilly looked around. "And… Where's Maw and Nephthys?"

"Hey, Tilly!" Sonic waved. "Nephthys is in her room but I haven't seen Maw or Shadow for a while."

Eggman crossed his arms and his brows knit with deep thought.

* * *

Maw growled playfully as he gently nipped at Shadow's collarbone. "I want to take you back to my base and just…" He sighed softly.

"And what?" Shadow softly gasped.

"Take my time where it isn't ice cold and very dark." He placed his hand on Shadow's bulge. "That and I have a really big, soft bed. It's like sleeping on fairy floss."

" _Unh…_ "

"Where I'm from we call this a stiffie," Maw gently massaged it through the suit. "Will you let me..." He paused to decide how to word his desires. " _Taste_ it?" He moaned into Shadow's ear.

Shadow bucked into Maw's hand. " _That_ is a little too fast..."

"Is it my mouth?"

"I won't lie, that _is_ a factor." The waves of pleasure running up his body were so alien and intense he wasn't sure if he wanted to stop or keep going. In the back of his mind, Shadow wondered if he would accidentally set off some deadly magic at the climax.

"If it makes you feel better you can tie me down and have your way with me," the thylacine ribbed.

"No, that's not necessary." Shadow scooched away. "I'm okay for now." _Maybe I've already gone too far. I just wanted him to kiss me but I let him grab my-_

"Too much fun for one day?" Maw pouted, unknowingly disturbing Shadow's train of thought.

"Yes." Shadow slipped his arms back into the space suit and zipped it up. "And I don't have anything to restrain you with."

"I guess if you had to you could use magic if you absolutely had no other options…" Maw rezipped his suit and straightened out the lines. A sudden shooting pain in his jaw stopped him dead in his tracks. He fell to his knees and clawed at the joints that allowed his mouth to open and close on either side of his cheeks.

"Maw?" Shadow cautiously approached him.

"My cybernetics," he strained through clenched teeth, "Something is… wrong."

"Then I guess it's a good thing I declined your offer."

"I'm not joking, Shadow. Feels like my teeth are being ripped from my skull." Maw's breathing became labored with each passing moment. Shadow grabbed him and teleported back to the foyer.

"Eggman?" Shadow called. "Something is wrong."

"Ugh, what now!?" The Doctor yelled from the other room.

Sheptilah was the first to enter the hall and saw Shadow supporting Maw's weight. "What happened?" She lightly touched the thylacine's forehead with her fingertips. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

"No," Shadow adjusted his grip, "His cybernetics malfunctioned mid-sentence."

"Ah, shit," Eggman came in. "This happens sometimes. Binding flesh to experimental metal alloys doesn't always stick the first time around." The overlander threw Maw over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and brought him to the master bedroom.

"What is all the commotion?" Nephthys exited her room to see Maw in shambles.

After laying Maw down Eggman reached under the bed for the first aid kit full of mechanic's tools and slipped on puncture-proof neoprene gloves. He loosened the bolts in Maw's cheeks to the point where his jaw was slack and grotesquely leaned to the side. The vulture turned away from the disgusting visage.

"Okey dokey, easy fix." Eggman quickly got to work.

Shadow looked on, silently horrified. Maw no longer looked like a young, handsome Mobian but now resembled a cheap halloween mask that was half-melted.

"Can I help?" Sheptilah frowned.

"Nope, this is all mechanics." Eggman grinned, "Hm, this may not be so easy. Ah, I see the issue! More of your jaw bone broke down and was floating free." He pressed a fingertip to the part of his gum that was loose and Maw groaned in response.

"What metal are his implants made from?" Sheptilah asked nervously.

"Titanium, chromium and tungsten; why?"

"Then get out of my way!" She hip-checked Eggman and gently took hold of Maw's cheeks. The thylacine weakly protested by trying to push her hands away but gave in when the pain was replaced with an ice cold rush.

Sheptilah gagged and spat out bloody broken bones into her hands. Some were as small as a grain of rice and others were much larger.

"These are all the bits and pieces that were broken off," she coughed, "Ugh, some are _really_ tiny. I think I swallowed some."

"No! You may have compromised some of the cybernetics!" Eggman dragged his dry hand down his face. "Leave the mechanics to the mechanic, thank you!"

Tilly looked at Ivo wide-eyed and felt the hot, stinging prickle of guilt on the back of her neck.

"Sorry, Maw. Looks like your jaw is going to be wired shut until we can get you down to Mobius for a more permanent fix. Maybe Clove can take your place up here."

The Doctor reattached the cybernetics and tightened them shut leaving just enough of a gap for straw-feeding. Eggman removed his gloves and had Maw sit up.

"I can't put these bones back, Maw. I'm so sorry." Tilly kneeled beside him on the bed. "Are you in pain?"

Maw strained to smile and shook his head indicating he was okay.

"I'm so sorry, I thought I could help you by getting rid of the free-floating bone. I guess some of that was important to keep in…"

"Well, given that I don't have access to an x-ray machine here it's just as well. He probably would've needed it locked in place after a day or two." Eggman took a chunk of bone Tilly had spit out and inspected it.

"Your temporomandibular osteoarthritis is getting worse." Eggman sucked on his teeth, "I think I may have to finally replace the whole thing with metal. You may need the palate under your tongue replaced as well. This means you risk losing your organic tongue _and_ the ability to taste and talk normally."

Maw nodded solemnly.

"What were you doing that caused this to happen?" Eggman looked to Shadow.

Maw silently panicked, ears erect.

The hedgehog quickly cooked up a white lie: "We were discussing the future of the Empire. Maw had concerns about what happens to you, Eggman, after the wiccaphages are fully dealt with. I explained that we will cross that bridge when we get there but it is unlikely that GUN will do anything extreme."

The thylacine relaxed. _Thank God he's cute_ and _smart,_ he thought.

"I do have the same concerns," Nephthys said. "I don't want to leave the Empire. I'm not _opposed_ to the bomb removal; but I would like to continue serving you, Lord Eggman."

"It also depends on what happens to me before and after the wiccaphages are removed, if at all." Sheptilah hung her head, "And what GUN wants to do about the marriage and whether or not Iran recognizes me as living royalty with sovereign rule over the ziggurat and its surrounding land."

"GUN does _not_ know," Shadow said. "It will be kept that way for as long as possible. As for Iran, that is something you would have to ask their president at a _much_ later date."

Maw got off of the bed and bowed toward Eggman before making way to his room.

"MARI, call Dr. Cortes." The overlander sighed.

"I'm sorry, Ivo." Tilly frowned. "I screwed up again."

"I'm sorry I snapped at you." He put the tools away. "But please; don't do that near the cybernetics anymore. You could accidentally set off the bombs in their heads because an electric short or something."

"Oh, my gods."

Shadow went up to his witch and plucked a piece of the bones cradled in her fingers.

"Well, at least you made it so he won't be at risk of infection from these bits and pieces. That could easily kill him if it reached his brain. He really wasn't kidding about his weak jaw bones." He effortlessly crushed one between his fingers like it was a stale breadcrumb. "One half-hearted punch and he's _done_. Is the rest of his skeletal system so compromised?"

"So far it is just his jaw. He learned some sign language as a child because he was afraid he would lose the ability to speak without difficulty," Nephthys said.

"I'm fluent in ASL." Shadow nodded. "I can interpret."

"No, you can't." The vulture shook her head. "Downunda signing is a little different. It's its own dialect. I myself am fluent in Persian Sign Language and Braille."

"I often forget that sign language is different regionally…" Sheptilah scratched the back of her head. "Shadow taught me ASL."

"I know," Eggman nodded. "I saw it when… never mind."

"I know; when I said I loved you before everything happened. That's the last thing I remember." The woman frowned. She clapped her hands together and smiled, "I'm going to talk to Maw alone. You all can go back to what you were doing."

"Tilly…" Shadow reached out for her.

"It's okay, I'm not going to do magic on him." She reassured her familiar.

"...alright." He surrendered.

"Hm…" Eggman rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at Shadow.

" _What?_ " Shadow balled his fists.

"You better not be trying to poach my best chemist for GUN purposes."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. "We do not need chemists at the moment."

"Ivo, stop. Shadow's not doing anything to undermine your Empire." Sheptilah knocked on the door before entering Maw's room.

"I hope not." Eggman looked down at the hedgehog. "For your sake."

Shadow rolled his eyes and made off for the rec room.

* * *

Maw bent down to clean under his bed and found the missing ear plugs. _So maybe Scourge did not steal them after all._

He put them back into their case after sanitizing them. He then changed his sheets, folding them neatly before sending it down the laundry chute. Maw sat on the bed, pulled his laptop from his luggage and barely got a web page open before he was disturbed by the knocking.

"Maw? It's me." The witch's voice sounded apprehensive.

For a moment Maw felt the icy cold grip of dread. Had MARI spilled the beans about what happened the night prior or earlier that day?

The door opened and Sheptilah appeared, closing the door behind her. "Hello."

Maw nodded.

"I'd like to talk to you about something, but I would appreciate if it stayed between us."

The thylacine raised an eyebrow.

Sheptilah got on the floor in front of him and sat cross-legged.

Maw opened a blank text file and typed away on it:

HOW MAY I HELP YOU, EMPRESS?

He turned his laptop so she could read it.

"Are you okay?"

HOW DO YOU MEAN?

His ears stood straight up.

"I mean your jaw."

He breathed a short sigh of relief and continued typing.

THIS IS NOTHING NEW, MY LADY. THIS IS NORMAL. SOMETIMES MY CYBERNETICS FAIL. THIS IS THROUGH NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN.

"What were you really talking about with Shadow?" She tilted her head.

 _So she doesn't know._ He thought. _Do I be honest or do I lie?_

SHADOW INQUIRED ABOUT MY REASONS BEHIND JOINING THE EGGMAN EMPIRE. HE IS UNFAMILIAR WITH ME AS AN EGG BOSS SO HE HAD MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT MY MOTIVATIONS.

"Where were you today?"

THE CARGO HOLD.

"Why?"

MARI IS NOSY AND I DID NOT WANT LORD EGGMAN TO MISCONSTRUE MY CONVERSATION AS SOMEHOW ATTEMPTING TO UNDERMINE HIS RULE OR POWER. I CONTINUE TO PLEDGE MY UNDYING LOYALTY TO YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND.

"So you weren't fighting?"

NO, MY LADY.

"I thought you may have because Shadow seemed to not like you at all."

Maw grinned.

SHADOW DOES NOT LIKE MANY PEOPLE. IT IS EXPECTED THAT HE WOULD NOT LIKE ME, SO NO OFFENSE WAS TAKEN.

"It felt strange. Maybe it was just because I was feeling unsafe after talking to my new therapist today..."

ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

"I'm okay right now."

I AM HAPPY TO HEAR THAT.

He paused for a moment before typing again:

MY LADY, I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING TO YOU. DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU ASKED LORD EGGMAN TO CEASE ALL PROJECTS OVER A YEAR AGO?

"Yes…?"

UNFORTUNATELY, IT HAD REPERCUSSIONS YOU COULD NOT HAVE FORESEEN.

Maw explained the situation it had caused.

" _I_ did that? I just assumed it was his one company at that time. I wasn't aware of the Bosses until later and even then I did not meet you. I am so sorry, I didn't realize such action would've affected so many families."

DO NOT WORRY. WE HANDLED IT VERY WELL.

I HAD HEARD ABOUT YOU FIGHTING EACH AVAILABLE EGG BOSS ONE-BY-ONE BUT NEPHTHYS FINALLY TOOK YOU DOWN.

"Yes…" She smiled uneasily.

AND YOU DID SO WHILE INJURED AND AT STARVATION WEIGHT.

"I hardly remember…"

I AM LUCKY I WAS ON HIATUS. I'M SURE YOU COULD HAVE BROKEN MY SPINE OVER YOUR KNEE LIKE A BREADSTICK!

Maw snickered.

I MEAN NO ILL TOWARDS SHADOW. HE IS LORD EGGMAN'S FAMILY AND WE HAVE STRICT ORDERS TO NOT HURT HIM.

THAT, AND I WOULD NOT WANT TO OFFEND OUR EMPRESS. WE ARE ALL SWORN TO PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY. YOU DO NOT SERVE US, WE SERVE YOU. IT IS NOT YOUR BURDEN TO BEAR.

"Of _course_ it's my burden," she brushed her hair behind her ear. "How could it not be? I just want to make sure everyone is safe and healthy."

YOU HAVE A DESIRE TO MAINTAIN ABSOLUTE CONTROL OVER SITUATIONS. I RESPECT THIS IN A LEADER.

Maw paused again to think.

LADY SHEPTILAH, I AM NOT ANGRY ABOUT MY CYBERNETICS BEING LOCKED. AFTER ALL, YOU REMOVED THE FLOATING BONE AND RELIEVED ME OF MY EXTREME PAIN. I FEEL WELL NOW.

"So, may I ask… why _did_ you join the Empire? I know everyone else's reasons but yours."

I WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. I CAN DO THAT BY HELPING THE EMPIRE BECOME AS SUCCESSFUL AS POSSIBLE.

"I want to make the world better, too." Sheptilah nodded. "But I am not sure I can."

THERE IS NO 'I CAN'. WE CAN. NOBODY CAN DO SOMETHING ALONE. THAT IS WHY WE ARE HERE.

"This is true," she chuckled, "Yeah, even my therapist says I am like Atlas trying to hold up the world. Kind of like what I did with you earlier… I am always open to input from the Egg Bosses, so if you have opinions or suggestions you can talk to me any time. If I'm not around just let Shadow know and he will tell me."

WHY DID YOU ASK WHAT THE METALS WERE?

"Because I am weak to iron. Even grazing against it can make me break out in a rash. It takes so much longer to heal and it can kill me. Weakens my magic. It's awful."

AND YOU FOUGHT AXEL? THAT'S DARING.

"I know," she laughed. "Ivo wanted to kill me!"

IS THAT ALL YOU NEED, LADY SHEPTILAH?

"I'm giving you my bathing water rations. I clean myself off with magic and I know you were disappointed in the two gallon rule."

THAT IS GENEROUS OF YOU, THANK YOU.

"You're welcome. Anything else I can do?"

 _You can leave me your brother wrapped in a pretty silk bow_ , he thought. _And nothing else._

REMEMBER, I SERVE YOUR WHOLE FAMILY. THAT INCLUDES YOUR FAMILIAR; BUT WHAT STATUS DOES HE HOLD IN THE EMPIRE?

"I don't know, actually. I'll have to ask Ivo what he thinks; but Shadow is my equal. He's king of the Nannae ziggurat and is Ivo's family, regardless. I think he's technically an uncle to Ivo."

THEN I WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE UNDER THE ASSUMPTION THAT HE IS OUR SUPERIOR AND THEREFORE ABOVE ME.

"I'm sure he'd _love_ to boss you all around; but I can't imagine him asking to be waited on hand and foot."

WELL, IF HE DECIDES HE WANTS TO BOSS ME AROUND, THEN I WILL FOLLOW WHATEVER ORDERS HE GIVES ME.

"He has more respect for you than that."

 _And it is a pity._ Maw thought.

"But he may ask you to clean out his skates if he gets sand in them again. He _hates_ that. You haven't lived until you've seen Shadow digging out bits of rock from his skates with a fork."

I AM SURE I WILL SEE MANY THINGS INVOLVING HIM ON THIS SHIP.

Sheptilah chortled. "Take care, Maw. If you need anything and Ivo says no you can always come to me for an appeal." She winked.

* * *

"MARI! Stop cheatin'!" Sonic groaned.

"I am not! You are just not as fast as me!"

"I'm the fastest thing alive!" Sonic was not pleased she was taunting him through a rhythm game in which you match the arrow buttons under your feet to the ones indicated on screen.

"Honey. Baby. Sonic. I am _not_ alive." MARI had to remind him. "I am a computer, remember? Dingus."

Sonic crossed his arms. "Play the song over again, please."

"MARI," Eggman scolded her, "Don't agitate the blue pineapple. Change the sensitivity back to the Konami factory settings and _leave it that way._ " He typed away on his laptop with an orthodontist and a maxillofacial surgeon recommended by Cortes. "I am _working_ and the more he whines the less I get done."

"Yes, sir." MARI obeyed.

Eggman put on his noise cancelling headphones so he could continue to work in peace.

Silver was stuffing his face with all kinds of random food samples MARI had set out for him. Each was a delight to him but he was most amused by gherkins. "These are so tiny, oh my goodness. I should have named one of the corgis Gherkin."

"They were all named after a kind of _bean_ ," Sonic was toggling through song choices, "Maybe the next batch of pups will be named after miniature foods. Aha! Here we go."

He finally selected a song and was able to complete it with a perfect score.

"Yay." MARI said half-heartedly.

* * *

Maw came out of his room with a towel in hand and wearing his flip flops. He saw Shadow was laying back on the bed with reading from his tablet, seemingly lost in another book.

Maw caught his eye and Shadow looked up. His ears scarcely twitched when the thylacine slowly pulled down his zipper.

Shadow rolled his eyes and went back to reading. "Is your mouth okay?"

"Yeah," Maw said through his clenched teeth. "But Sheptilah thinks I can't talk with it wired shut. Made it easier to come up with excuses while typing."

"Excuses?"

"I let her know that I work for the family and that includes you. So, I have to do anything you ask of me. Even if it means being on my knees while I do it." He winked.

Shadow just stared at the thylacine, unsure of what he meant.

"I suppose we could share our bathing rations, if you like."

"No, thanks. My fur is very easy to keep clean so it is not necessary; but I appreciate the offer."

Maw couldn't help but smile at how innocent Shadow seemed. _I almost feel bad for wanting to pop that black cherry. I want to just wrap him in plush velvet and hand-feed him fruit._

"Well, my offer still stands." Maw turned and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

He showered quickly, careful to avoid getting soap in his mouth. To dry off he got on all fours and shook the water from his fur like a dog before toweling off and squeezing back into the space suit.

He stepped into the master bedroom again to see Shadow was still engrossed in the novel.

"What are you reading?" Maw asked.

"Crichton's _The Andromeda Strain_."

"Isn't that a bit foreboding to be reading on a very cramped space station?" Maw's upturned eyebrows made the white on his eyelids more prominent.

"Not particularly. This takes place down on Mobius after the fact. What is _truly_ scary is how Michael Crichton seems to keep releasing new novels after his death many years ago. It's very curious."

"Ah…" Maw smirked. "You can be very funny sometimes."

"He's a real hoot," Sheptilah appeared from under the bed in the form of a cat. She arched her back in a stretch and hopped on the bed, curling up next to Shadow.

"She shapeshifts," Shadow explained, "She came in not that long ago."

"I was taking a kitty nap when I heard talking." She rolled onto her back so Shadow could pet her belly. "I'm glad you are somewhat able to talk through your teeth like that."

"It is slightly difficult, but as long as I am understood that is all that matters." Maw wanted to _kill_ Shadow for not saying something. _I had no idea she was under there!_

* * *

"Is your ship charged yet, Eggface?" Sonic sneered. "I'm tired of being squished in this tin can."

"Listen, you," Eggman pointed. "It takes a while for solar energy to replenish a ship that powerful. It costs more fuel to refuel a ship up here than it does to just jettison you home in a damn box. Don't tempt me."

"Amy may come up here _herself_ to retrieve me, so fair warning if a hammer breaks through the wall. Just… bam! Amy comes knocking."

"I highly doubt-"

Eggman was cut off mid-sentence when everything went dark and the gravity gave way.


	83. Sagittarius

After a minute the power and gravity was back on and the screens were cloaked in static.

"What the everloving _fuck_ was that!?" MARI yelled. "Oh, _shit_."

"What?!" Eggman shouted.

"Fucking EMP wave or something." MARI beeped.

"Electrostatic or coronal?"

"Metal Sonic is offline!" MARI said. "If he is offline then how am I online?" She paused. "Something is wrong, I cannot reach Mobius. Seems I'm localized only."

"He is EMP-proof." Eggman stood.

"I'm on it!" Sheptilah called. She transformed back into a human, put on her helmet, grabbed her staff and disappeared again.

Several painfully long moments of silence passed.

"MARI, patch me in to the ship." Sheptilah drew a shaky breath.

"Sure, mom. I can still do that. You're live."

"Guys…?" Sheptilah said into her com. "Metal Sonic isn't here and neither is the ship we came here on."

"What do you mean?" Eggman answered.

"I don't think we're in our solar system anymore."

" _What?_ " The rest of them said collectively.

Shadow jumped from the bed and escorted Maw to the rec room where everyone else was.

"My cameras outside of the ship are down…" MARI huffed. "I am literally flying blind, here."

"Connect to Sheptilah's camera." Shadow said.

"I'm trying…" MARI huffed.

The connection was spotty at best. Sheptilah's cam showed what appeared to be an ice planet below them. Gigantic cracked floes of white and blue were streaked with coffee-colored gaps between each shelf.

"We're orbiting _Europa._ " Shadow said. "We're a satellite to one of Jupiter's moons. We have to be on the far side of the orbit otherwise we'd have been pulled in by now."

"Europa would take us _months_ to get to at full power…" Eggman muttered. "How did we get here?"

"I don't know," MARI said, "Something or someone may have teleported us."

"She's beautiful… only slightly smaller than Luna…" Sheptilah said to herself. Scourge appeared beside her and gasped.

"This thing is a giant Dippin' Dot…" Scourge said. "I kind of want to lick it…"

"The ice is constantly shifting on Europa. If we're pulled onto its surface by gravity or some other outside force it will not end well." Shadow crossed his arms. "The ice melts during its day and then re-freezes at night. It's constantly bombarded by radiation from Jupiter and its pure oxygen atmosphere will oxidize us alive."

"It's cancer in a snowball." Maw said. "Sir, is this station equipped to handle such high levels of radiation?" He started doing the calculations in his head.

"If nothing is damaged, yes, but not for long." Eggman said solemnly. "If we do not get out of here soon we could all die of radiation poisoning."

"No," Nephthys said, "Sheptilah and Shadow would be the only survivors. Trapped out here forever in space slowly dying of starvation."

"It's an entire moon made of ice and water?" Sonic breathed deeply. "How do we get back home? Because this moon was _specifically_ designed to upset me."

"Sheptilah? Can you do anything?" Shadow called.

"I will try." She lowered her staff and closed her eyes. She concentrated, floating weightless in space. The constant sensation of falling calmed her. The bud on the staff bloomed, releasing some magic and formed a jagged portal.

It seemed to succeed, at first, when a glittery silver oval opened like an eye. The deep black void among the stars led nowhere. An invisible force with the strength of a tsunami attempted to push her back but she persisted against it.

She felt something like an arrow strike her arms, but heard nothing. The terrible, burning pain of the fractures up to her shoulders was enough to snap her out of concentration and the bud shut. The portal disappeared instantly and her arms healed.

Her mic cut in and out. "I tried, it broke… broke my arms."

"Come back inside. Now." Eggman commanded.

She obeyed and returned with Scourge. Sheptilah removed her helmet and dropped it on the sofa. "My arms just snapped."

"I think babygirl here accidentally made a tiny black hole." Scourge pointed his thumb over his shoulder at her. "The gravity snapped her arms like dry pasta."

She chuckled, "They healed. See?" She flapped her arms.

"Don't go outside like that anymore," Eggman warned, "The suits can't protect you from that much radiation over a long period of time."

She stared at him blankly before devolving into a fit of giggles. "Why are there butterflies?" She asked, "Around your head? They look like… they look like rainbows of light."

"Tilly?" Eggman reached out for her.

Sheptilah's hands shook uncontrollably as she tried to catch the hallucinated insects.

"I'm so tired, I need to lay down…" Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. "The butterflies… they are so pretty. I have to catch one for Hebat… she loves butterflies." The lunar staff dropped to the floor with a clatter.

"MARI, do you have potassium iodide?" Maw asked.

"Yes, it's in the cargo hold, area C row four, top left of the cube." MARI answered.

"She's got acute radiation poisoning. Strip her clothes _now_ and destroy them." Maw instructed. "Then scrub her down with soap and water. I will be right back." He ran from the room.

"Wait!" Shadow called to the thylacine but it was too late.

"I don't feel well…" Sheptilah clutched Rabisu. "I don't…" She took an unsteady step before crumpling to the floor, breathing heavily.

"On it," Sonic said. In a flash the tainted suit was discarded and she was wrapped in a sheet.

"I got the soap and water part." Silver dashed off with her in a telekinetic hold and was able to get her totally scrubbed down in seconds with his psychic powers. He carried her back into the rec room and dropped her on the sofa.

"Done and done!" The little white hedgehog said, patting imaginary dust from his palms.

Sheptilah's eyes shot open, revealing opalescent irises that looked identical to Rabisu.

Shadow approached her cautiously. The color in her eyes swirled like oil on water with no set pattern.

"Do not touch me." Rabisu spoke through her mouth. "All of my nerves are firing at once."

Maw came back in huffing with a small vial between his fingers. "Take this. It will protect your thyroid."

"Thank you." She took the vial and swallowed the contents even though the pills were unnecessary.

"Are you okay?" Shadow asked the thylacine. Maw nodded briskly.

Sheptilah stood, her toes just barely touching the ground as she floated away from them. She clutched the white sheet like a robe. "I require a new suit."

"Right away." MARI beeped.

"Rabisu… what happened?" Shadow asked.

"Maw is correct: it _is_ radiation poisoning, and we are healing as expected. It is also the strange moonlight from Europa affecting us. We still see butterflies. I feel so tired. Shadow..."

"Just rest." Shadow cooed. "Just rest…"

* * *

Maw sat on his bed besides Shadow. The hedgehog was quiet and stared at the tips of his shoes for quite a long time, barely blinking.

"Hey." Maw finally broke the silence. "Who is Hebat?"

"Her first familiar." He pulled the scale out of his glove and showed the thylacine. "She was brutally murdered by a wiccaphage. Having your cosmically bonded sibling just torn to pieces like wet paper hurt her in a metaphysical way that can never heal. She gave me this scale when I first learned I was her new one as so deemed by the Universe. She thought it would bring me good luck."

"I saw you playing with that yesterday."

"When we first met we hated each other." Shadow turned over the scale. "We were so mad to be bonded like that. Just full of vitriol. It's funny now that I think about it. We each thought the Universe was punishing us for our sins. Now I can't imagine her not being around anymore."

"What do familiars even do?"

"We strengthen each other. It's like an alloy of two different metals that are weak on their own but become strong together. It's nice."

"I see."

"When she hurts, I hurt. It goes both ways. A different bond affects Eggman in the same way."

"How so?"

"Once she was impaled on a giant glass tree and the Doctor was drowning in her blood though he was unhurt and several feet away."

" _A glass tree?_ "

"It's a long story." He laughed to himself at the absurdity. "I'll tell you all about it at some point."

Maw gently placed his hand on Shadow's to show understanding and support.

"Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"Does she know when we're…?"

"Not beyond the point of her knowing I am okay. Sometimes I can sense when she and Eggman are… _in flagrante_ , but I don't feel any of it."

"So she doesn't know?"

"No."

"Do you think she'd be upset?"

"She'd probably be very worried for me but not upset. I told her that I never had sexual feelings or thoughts my whole life and I felt so weird and alien for it. She said that I may just be asexual and it doesn't really matter; then you came along and I guess things changed."

Maw put his fists on his hips and stuck out his chest. "Oh, yeah, I'm so hot everyone just pops a stiffie around me." He chuckled, " _Please_."

Shadow cocked a brow.

"I think you are just… hm… it's not demisexual that requires a _romantic_ interest." Maw snapped his fingers. "Comp het!"

"A _what?_ "

"Compulsive heterosexuality. You just assume you're straight so you interpret anything else as non-existent, weird or just misplaced. Like, you don't have feelings for women so you just assume you're asexual when you are actually gay."

"I don't think I'm _specifically_ gay; I just like you. I'm not sure gender expression matters yet, if at all."

"Fair enough. I suppose it could also just be you feel more relaxed and are able to feel those feelings because you have her and it makes you feel safe. You're allowed to be young again and not all serious all the time, yes?"

"Maw, my stress levels are constantly at a seven-hundred out of ten and I am seventy years old."

"Maybe I like older guys." Maw teased to lighten the mood. "Grandpa."

"I'm not as old as Sheptilah."

"She _is_ five-thousand… looks great, too. What's her moisturizer?" Maw pretended he was holding a notebook and pen, ready to take down notes.

"You know what's funny? Hebat was an asexual lesbian."

" _Aww_ , we call them Bambi lesbians." Maw grinned sweetly.

"And Sheptilah prefers women over men. Her first lover was a female succubus. How you go from that to the Doctor is beyond me, but she's happy."

"Incubi are male sex demons," Maw winked, "I naturally assumed the succubus was a woman."

"Ah, right. Well, either way, there's many ways to exist. Maybe I'm bisexual or pansexual; I don't know. No other man or woman has made me feel like this before you. I may never know."

"You _could_ be gay, too." Maw lightly tapped Shadow's behind with his thick tail. "Or maybe you're just Maw-sexual."

"I'm serious."

"I'm trying to lighten the mood, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Shadow softened a bit and scooted closer, "I am just worried for Ti-ti."

"I'm worried for _you_." Maw gently touched Shadow's cheek. "Sheptilah's tough, she'll be okay."

"Do you know _how_ she got away from Eggman Nega or all of what happened to her?"

"I… don't know the raw details. Nobody wanted to talk about it, not even Thunderbolt. I was told they kept her locked up and removed her left pinky."

Shadow turned to Maw and frowned. "They vivisected her over the course of several weeks. They starved her and experimented on her. In the end, Nega's hubris caught up when he touched a Chaos Emerald to her Oracle Stone. She turned into this giant monster and busted herself out. Something changed in her eyes after Europa's light touched her. I'm worried something may happen if she transforms again and compromises this station."

"She wouldn't hurt us."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Has she ever hurt anyone by accident?"

"...no, actually."

"There you go! I'm very confident we're going to get out of here in no time. Lord Eggman has gotten himself out of worse situations without us or MARI to assist."

"You're right." Shadow admitted. "I am still concerned about how we got here to begin with."

"About us?"

"No, about the station. I know how _we_ got here," Shadow smirked.

Maw's face became pink. "I just want you to know I will still care about you even if you end up not liking men. I do want to be your friend."

"I appreciate it, Maw." Shadow leaned in. "But don't waste your energy."

* * *

Everyone gathered in the rec room to have a quick meal and to brainstorm ideas. Shadow sat on the sofa beside his witch with the unopened white box Andrea Cabbot had given him.

"We can't all cram into the escape pod and even if we could it would take years to reach Mobius again," Eggman paced back and forth.

"I've been trying to hail Ulala but I cannot get anything but white noise from the radiation of Jupiter." MARI said.

Sheptilah pulled on her freshly printed space suit and took hold of her staff. "Maybe the royal grimoire is something we can work with… Shadow has it. It may be able to help us." Her eyes still scintillated but she seemed to be otherwise unchanged.

"If I re-purpose some parts from this ship I'm sure I can get us back." He muttered, looking down as he moved. "How'd we even get here? Wormhole?"

"Ivo," Tilly tapped her foot.

" _Ya'll_ ," Scourge appeared, "There is some _weird_ fucking shit going on outside the station. Put ya fuckin' helmets on _now_."

Before they could react it all went black again.

* * *

"Okay, sound of; who is alive…?" Eggman asked in the pitch black.

He was met with collective groans and a clatter. Sheptilah and Shadow each created a will-o-the-wisp to provide light. Shadow picked up the smashed box he had dropped. Sheptilah picked up her staff and held it before her defensively.

"Scourge?" Sheptilah called.

"Fuck!" The ghost whined. "Shit. _I felt that_."

"My lady?" Nephthys tapped her shoulder to get her attention. "Make the wisp bigger, please."

Sheptilah did as asked. They stood in what seemed to be an endless hallway that resembled a dilapidated hangar. The curved walls and high ceiling were ribbed with alien geometric patterns but the floor's texture was completely smooth though non-reflective.

They each put their on their helmets and turned their headlights on. The weak beams barely lit a few feet in front of them and disappeared completely when directed at the floor.

Eggman gave the ground a cursory tap before jumping up and down on it with all his might. "No sound. Nothing. We were just breathing and talking but now there's no sounds?"

Shadow tried to activate his skates but nothing happened. Sheptilah tapped the staff on the floor with the same results.

"I'm going to try to run and see how far this goes-" Sonic posed to take off but Eggman grabbed his shoulder before he could.

"Don't! Everyone needs to stick together right now." The Overlander warned. "We don't know where we are."

"Or _when._ " Silver floated off the ground.

"You know, maybe you're all dead." The ghost whined.

Silver punched a hole in Scourge's stomach. "Nope, we're not dead but you still are."

Scourge laughed. "Fuck! I can't have nothin'!"

"It's highly unlikely we'd all go to the same place when we die." Sheptilah shook her head. "Nephthys, your helmet is not fully sealed…"

Maw protectively stood close to Shadow, their shoulders touching.

The ground shattered beneath them, swallowing them in darkness.


	84. Sugar, Sugar

"Ugh." Sonic groaned. "What the heck happened?" He saw that he hit the ground hard enough to crack his helmet. "Eggman? Shadow? Silv?" The hedgehog called.

The inner part of his visor lit up with the words: REMOTE COMS OFFLINE. LOCAL COMS FUNCTIONAL.

He stood and looked around at the jagged metal around him. The hangar was much larger than before and brightly lit. Something about the orange, gray and white slabs seemed familiar but he shook it off.

 _I've been around the world and to other planets… everything is bound to look like something I've seen before at some point._ He said to himself.

"Sonic?" Eggman said. "Is that you?" He pushed some debris off of him with a loud clang.

"You're alright! Where's everyone else?" Sonic helped him up.

"I don't know. It may just be us." Eggman scratched the hairline crack in Sonic's visor with his thumb. "This isn't good. If you get hit again it may break apart. We're fucked if you die on me."

"Oh, now you care?"

Eggman shrugged. "I have no weapons on me and you are capable of evading all kinds of killer nonsense."

" _Or_ ," Sonic said, "You care a little bit." He held his fingers apart very slightly. "Little bitty bitty bit."

"Alright, the truth is Sheptilah would kill me if you got hurt."

"There it is." Sonic smirked.

"Does… this place feel familiar to you, too?" Eggman walked around looking for anything that could help him identify where he was.

"Yeah," Sonic jumped up on a pile of steel beams, climbing his way to the top to find a way out of the maze of garbage. "Eggman?"

"Yes?"

"I think I see human corpses, but nobody we know."

" _Human?_ " Eggman switched to a softer voice. "Get down here _now_."

Sonic jumped down and landed quietly beside the human. "Doesn't look like anyone we know. They weren't in space suits. They looked like regular people." The hedgehog whispered. "And the corpses were old; much older than the ones we saw at Thunderbolt's first base. Like, they've been here for even longer."

Sonic led Eggman to the corpses. They were both human and Mobian, each laid flat on their backs in neat rows with their arms crossed at the wrist over their chests.

"Somebody cared about these people." Eggman noted. "No insect or animal activity. Some are quite old and skeletonized while others are a few months old."

"Maybe we're on some abandoned spaceship…" Sonic said hopefully.

Eggman's eyes grew wide. He noticed a white, flaky sheen to a 'fresher' corpse and dragged his finger across it. Peering at it closely he gasped softly. Tiny, cubic crystals were highly recognizable.

"They look… like they've been intentionally dehydrated."

"What, like a mummy?"

Eggman nervously looked over his shoulder at the hedgehog. " _This is table salt._ "

Sonic looked away. Something clattered nearby causing him to jump.

"Who's there?!" He shouted.

Eggman lightly kicked Sonic's foot. " _Don't give away our position!_ " He whispered harshly. Ivo stood and put up his fists.

Nothing. Dead silence.

"I guess nobody is here." Sonic breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm already going crazy hearing things..."

"Come on, we gotta move." Eggman grabbed Sonic by the wrist and hustled away from the origin of the noise. "You'd be the first one to die in a horror movie. If we follow the walls we may find a door or something."

"How do you know we're not in a giant trash barge?"

"I don't; but your urge to save people is going to get you killed."

"It hasn't yet." Sonic said defiantly.

"God, it's like you and Sheptilah are the same person sometimes."

"And you married her, so…" Sonic shrugged and followed behind Eggman.

The Overlander gagged and coughed. "Don't say it like _that_."

"You clearly married her for _some_ reason."

"The reckless endangerment of your life for others is the only trait you two share." Eggman huffed. "I married her for a plethora of reasons but that specific habit is something of hers I am trying to break."

"I'm happy for you, man." The hedgehog grinned. "She brings out the best in you. It's not much but it's _something_."

"I hate how everyone figured it all out right away. It's supposed to be a secret for our safety."

"Nobody with any power to hurt you for it knows." Sonic reassured him. "What's the worst that could happen if anyone did?"

"I don't think you understand how many countries want me dead. I always forget she's actually a queen and she technically has a small sovereign nation in Iran and has ties to _GUN_. Many places consider the Egg Bases to be something of sovereign nations in of themselves."

"You're worried for _Shadow,_ too." Sonic thought aloud. "Did he approve of this whole thing?"

"Not that it's any of your business but yes, he did. Surprised even me." He paused, and then: "It doesn't matter, actually."

"Hm?"

"I don't think we're getting out of here. All the piles are starting to look the same except for the candy wrappers. The walls and ceiling have no clear markers..."

Some of the debris was assembled into crude shelters and hovels. "I think people were living here for a long time like a _colony_ or something…" Sonic peeked into one of them. "Mountains of fabric, candy wrappers and other junk but it's clear no one's been home for a while."

Sonic picked up a candy wrapper and flipped it over. "Oh, _sugar, sugar._ " He nervously hummed the bars to the The Archies' song.

"What?"

"I figured out why this place felt so familiar…"

"Oh?"

"It's Sweet Mountain." His voice became grave.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me." Eggman took the wrapper from Sonic and inspected it. "Oh, God _you're right_."

"Nobody was in that park but robots, the Chaotix and Team Dark. Did we leave people behind?"

"Hello?" A small feminine voice called.

Sonic and Eggman took defensive stances.

"Hello? Who is there?" The voice spoke again. "Hello!?" The voice sounded agitated.

A pale-skinned young human woman dressed in dirty jeans and an old t-shirt peeked out from one of the shelters. "Rescue! Finally!" Her hair was a long, dark brown, curly matted mess tied up into a sloppy bun with a shoelace.

"I'm Gail! Well, my name is Abigail but you can call me Gail but _don't_ call me Abbey; I hate that." She spoke very quickly and very nervously and did not seem to recognize either Sonic or Eggman.

"I was… I was stuck in the park with a bunch of other people when… when…" She paused to think. "When _something_ happened and … ahaha… and we got stuck here… For years! Years and years!"

She waved her arms frantically. "But you're here now! To save us! Well, save me. It's just me now. I've been alone for… whew… a long time." Her brown eyes wild with excitement matched the color of several of her front teeth.

Sonic looked at Eggman and nodded nervously. "Hi, Gail… my name is Sonic and this is-"

"My name is Ivo." He interrupted.

" _Right_ , his name is Ivo. We're looking for a door or a hatch or a window…"

Gail pulled a squished candy bar out of her back pocket and offered it to them. "Want some?"

"No, thank you." The boys said in unison.

"More for me." She wolfed it down. "There's no door or hatch or anything like that. Goes on endlessly…"

The container they were in groaned like an old ship at sea. The slight rumble was barely felt by either of them.

"Don't panic! It does that."

"Do you know where we are?" Eggman asked.

"We're in It."

"It?" Sonic took a slight step back.

"Yeah, It. Capital 'I'. The _It._ This?" She turned around with her arms wide, "This is It."

Sonic's spines stood on end.

"Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Sonic and Ivo. Weird names, huh?" She pulled something rectangular and thin from another pocket and ate a corner from it. "I've been here since… Hm." She paused as if to count on her fingers. "A long time! Feels like forever but it's probably only been six years."

"That's about right." Eggman said thinking out loud. "That's when the park went down."

"Where's the rest of your rescue crew?" Gail balanced on the balls of her well-worn shoes.

"We aren't a rescue crew, sorry." Sonic put his hands up to show they were empty. "We're trapped here now."

"That's not good." Gail said flatly. "Well, not good for _you_."

"Are you sure you're alone?" Eggman asked. His eyes darted around looking for something he could use as a weapon just in case.

"Um, role call!" She inhaled deeply and let out a piercing howl that echoed off the walls.

She cartoonishly put one hand behind her ear and lifted a finger to her lips as if to shush them. A sick grin spread on her face. "No one's home!"

"We get it, sorry." Sonic backed up a bit more. "Gail, are you okay?"

"Um…" She chewed more on the strange looking thing.

The blue blur looked at it and wondered if it was very stale gum.

Some of the smaller bits of garbage slid across the floor ever so slightly.

"I walked forever once in one direction looking for an end but never found one. Come with me. Maybe with your fancy computers in your outfits you can help!" A thick rope of drool flowed from the corner of her mouth. She unceremoniously sucked it in and coughed.

"Sorry, that happens. My teeth are a disaster, you know? Popcorn and candy and jerky… It gets to you. No dentists out here! No friends, no dentists and no dentist friends!"

"Why don't you lead the way?" Eggman gestured.

"Sure." Gail perked up. "Follow the leader!"

* * *

Sonic kept _very_ close to Eggman. The young woman led the way like a marshal leads a parade. The piles became smaller and less obvious while the pathway got progressively darker. Their steps felt heavier and less stable. The creaking became louder, more frequent and rang in their ears like nails on a chalkboard.

"It's annoying right? You'll get used to It." She looked over her shoulders at them and smiled.

Sonic tripped on something and broke his fall with his hands. He struggled to stand back up, feeling resistance like sitting in glue.

"What's this gunk?" Sonic gagged. "Ew, it's bright green…"

"I don't know what It is I just know that It's here." Gail shrugged.

Eggman put out his arm to stop Sonic from moving further.

"We've gotta get out of here now. There is something _very_ wrong with that girl." He whispered to Sonic.

"We can't leave her behind," the hedgehog insisted, "She's just a kid."

"No, I mean something is _very wrong._ " He lightly swatted at Sonic's helmet. "You're not very genre savvy, are you?"

"She's just a girl."

"Oh, that's _right_ ; you weren't with us at the ziggurat…"

"I don't get it."

"I'll explain later, for now we need to distance ourselves from he-" He was cut off by something slimy taking hold of his leg. He struggled to free himself but it was no use: he was stuck.

Gail put her hand on Sonic's shoulder and pulled him back into the slime. From that side he was unable to pull himself up. "Thanks." He smiled at her. Almost instantly his expression changed.

The young woman took a small, sharp chunk of metal and held it so tightly her palm bled. Thick, syrupy drops of blood dripped onto Sonic's visor.

The hedgehog fought against the tight grip of the ooze, his breath quickening and beads of sweat forming on his brow.

"Stop struggling." Gail leaned down. Sonic saw her eyes were glazed green and more drool flowed from her mouth. "You're going to make your meat all stringy."

"What do you want!?" Eggman shouted, trying to get her attention.

"Dinner, really." The woman tilted her head at an unnatural angle. "It's so hard being a single mom." She kicked Sonic's helmet hard enough to rattle his skull. "I said stop struggling!"

"I haven't felt like myself in so long." Her foot connected with Sonic's ribs. "Don't you ever just… _crave meat?_ I can't live off of cake and candy forever."

"Hey!" Eggman groaned with exertion. "Leave him alone! He's a kid! You'll wanna fatten him up first! He's all muscle and bone!"

"Really, now? I don't have a lot of time, you see. Any minute now It will be here." She put her shoe on the fractured glass and slowly put her full weight down on it. The crack audibly spread across the visor, running in thin veins. "A little terror adds to the flavor, I find."

"Gail, stop!" Eggman took off his helmet and threw it at her, hitting the woman on the forehead but she did not seem to mind even though a trickle of gooey blood seeped into her eye.

"You left us behind…" She said sing-songy. "It was perfect timing, too! It's _really_ hungry. I was only twelve or so when I got lost so It had to wait until I was the right age. Preserving bodies with table salt isn't so great a method."

"Please, Eggman." Sonic begged. "Run. Take off your suit and run!"

The glass shattered. Sonic shut his eyes expecting his skull to be crushed to a pulp.

"Get away from him, _you bitch!_ " Eggman threw his backpack with enough force to knock the woman down and temporarily stun her. He unzipped his suit and reached for Sonic's zipper to set him free.

The hedgehog peeled himself out of his clothing and stood, shaking his head to regain composure.

"Don't just stand there, stupid! Ball up! I'm gonna toss you like a basketball!"

"Right!" Sonic curled up tightly. Eggman picked him up and chucked him clear across the slime to the well-lit area with safe ground.

Gail roused from her confusion and stood, knife still in hand. She lunged at Eggman who grabbed her by the upper arm and flung her away.

Sonic ran back and forth, pulling smaller and lighter bits of debris to the section Eggman was standing. It created a bridge so he could get away from the insidious ooze without stepping in it.

The woman came back with frightening speed, running on all fours like a dog. "It's time!" She squealed gleefully. Gail jumped up with her arms and legs spread as if to come in for a deadly bear hug only to have something rupture from her chest, causing her body to explode into a flaccid pile of gore.

Eggman made a break for it only to feel something hot and wet slide down his bare back.

The container creaked and began to tilt, the walls crashing in as if something was outside of it crushing it like an empty soda can.

"What the heck is _that?!_ "

"Get It off of my back!" Eggman shrieked.

Sonic grabbed at the weird, slimy creature that resembled a giant, cat-sized leech. "Sorry, little guy." He apologized before throwing it to the ground and crushing it under his shoe. It died with a quiet, crunchy pop.

Eggman fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath. At some point he had lost his glasses in the tussle.

"You cut a fine figure in little pink boxers, egg-face. Did you steal those from your wife?" He joked to lighten the mood and shake off his own terror.

"I'm too tired to choke you for that." The human huffed. "But I _will_ get my revenge."

"It doesn't look like It bit you…" Sonic squatted near his mortal enemy. "Thanks."

"For _what!?_ "

"Saving my life while risking yours for the first genuine time." He laughed, tears peeking out of the corner of his eyes. "I thought I was going to die… I really did and then you just…"

He clapped his hands together. "You came through. You chucked that backpack like a frisbee."

" _Don't_ mistake pragmatism for kindness." Eggman couldn't help but grin. His mouth became a tight line after he got a good look at Sonic. Spots of Gail's aerosolized blood painted his muzzle like freckles.

"What? What's wrong?" Sonic raised an eyebrow.

"...nothing."

The walls closed in on them at a quicker pace, each boom growing louder than the last.

"I guess this is it, Sonic." Eggman offered his hand. "We had a good run."

"We're not going to die; not here." The hedgehog pushed his hand away.

"You are always in denial until the bitter end, aren't you?"

"Something _always_ comes through."

"Son. Of. A. _Bitch!_ " Scourge screamed.

"See?" Sonic grinned smugly.

"I heard you fucking fuckers talking; now where the shit are you!?" Scourge popped his head up from the floor.

"Scourge! I'm happy to see you!" Sonic chirped.

"Come on, dumbasses." Scourge offered his hands. "I can pull your asses through to safety. Just clear your heads! Shouldn't be hard for you two to do." He flashed his sharp teeth.

Sonic and Eggman each grabbed a hand.

"Think skinny thoughts, bitches!"

The two mortals felt their bodies become tingly and warm. They were painlessly pulled through the metal onto the other side.

* * *

 **Super Duper thank you so much to my friend Julia for letting me borrow her OC Gail! (With sweet permission.) She's got her own fanfiction going, check it out! s/12854750/1/Left-Behind**


	85. You Get What You Give

Blue sky. Cloudless blue sky that stretched for eons above them. Green, dewy grass littered with colorful wildflowers swayed under them.

Maw sat up slowly, feeling nauseous. The ground under them was hard and cold. He wondered if it had rained not that long ago but he could not smell if the air was fresh or not with his helmet still on.

To his side Shadow laid unconscious, breathing softly with the box still in his arms.

"Shadow?" He said softly. "Shadow…" Maw gently squeezed his hand.

REMOTE COMS OFFLINE. LOCAL COMS FUNCTIONAL flashed inside his visor.

The hedgehog opened his ruby eyes. "Where… are we?"

"I think we died, Shadow. This isn't Mobius. _There's no sun_."

"Well, there's no Rainbow Bridge so it's not likely that we're _dead_." Shadow stretched, popping his back.

"You've _died_ before?"

"Not really. I astral projected with Sheptilah to get dew from Yggdrasil. It's a long story."

"You go on adventures with her a lot, huh?"

"We've seen the depths of her possessed, cursed ziggurat, the breadth of The Other Side that is connected to all other realms by tree roots as thick as skyscrapers are tall. We've seen eldritch goddesses greet us with pleasantries and nightclubs wild with neon colors."

Shadow stared straight ahead at nothing. A very long pause passed before he spoke again.

"Shadow?"

The hedgehog's tone of voice changed. He spoke as if he was in a drug-induced stupor. "We fought the ocean and sailed the skies. The moon is ours to control. I remember…"

The flowers seemed to flicker like an old television screen.

"I remember when she and Eggman first made love. My chest hurt so badly. Migraines. I remember." Shadow shut his eyes tightly and winced. "I remember… endless deserts with no clouds in the skies just like this one. Dead air."

Maw was nervous. Shadow's body visibly trembled.

"I have never been so scared. In my sleep I could see Nega taking out her organs one by one. He put them in bleach, sulfuric acid and liquid nitrogen to see if she would… die."

"Shadow, is there a leak in your suit?" Maw scooted closer to Shadow and peered over his clothing to look for piercings but none were found.

"Rabisu sealed her memories but I saw it all. I saw everything. I still see it. I felt her fear."

The blonde swallowed.

"I am The Star. I am The Salt. I was coarse and impure but now I feel purified. To become clean you must die and be reborn and yet I cannot be killed. I was born perfect. I am The Salt. Sheptilah is the Acid and Ivo is the Base. I am the Product. This is alchemy. This is chemistry."

Maw gripped Shadow's neck to feel for his pulse but the suit was too thick.

"I'm so numb. The sun, the moon and the star. The White Queen and the Red King. Of course the Universe chose a virgin sacrifice. I can't feel my hands."

"Shadow!" Maw gently shook him by the shoulders. "Shadow! Snap. Out. Of. It."

"You are dissolving the triad, Maw."

"What are you talking about?"

"She raises the sea and he boils it. I am all that remains. I was born in saline. They will die and I will be all that remains but I will be broken. Like salt, I am preserved. Like salt, I will corrode." Shadow's pupils were pinpoints and his eyes were wide enough to take up his whole face.

Maw recklessly removed his own helmet to test the air quality. It was breathable but stale. He unlatched Shadow's helmet and gently pulled it from his head.

"Breathe, Shadow." He removed the box from the hedgehog's hands and unzipped his space suit. He pressed his ear to the soft white fluff on his chest and listened to his rattling breaths and racing heartbeat.

"Breathe in slowly," Maw instructed. The hedgehog did as told. "Exhale slowly…" The thylacine repeated this procedure until the hedgehog was quieter.

Shadow gently laid his hand on Maw's cheek.

"That's it… calm down." He pressed his forehead to Shadow's and closed his eyes. "Breathe…"

"M-Maw?" Shadow drew a shaky breath.

"I'm here. You're having a panic attack. It will pass. Breathe."

Shadow sighed. "I don't… think that's what it was. Where are we?"

"I don't know. Just relax, we're safe here."

"I'm alright, Maw." Shadow gently pushed the blonde off of him. He took hold of the box and stood up, rezipping his suit with his free hand. "Were you trying to cop a feel while I was out?" He joked.

Maw crossed his arms and frowned.

"I was kidding."

"We need to find our way out of here. None of our surroundings are real and if we aren't careful we could run into or off of something." His face grew sour. Something about Shadow's ramblings upset him deeply but he couldn't place why.

"I noticed the grass is moving but I feel no air." Shadow spied a few flowers glitching. "It's a hologram."

"Yes." Maw said curtly. "Stay close to me. What's in the box, anyway?"

"My boss' wife gave this to me shortly before we left for the station. I don't know what's in it but I did forget about it until recently. I'm supposed to give it to Sheptilah. It's light, it's probably something she knitted."

The thylacine picked up Shadow's helmet and held it out to him.

"I think we're alone." Maw turned. "I can also see there's a pattern to the flowers; they're like repeating blocks every three square feet. It's _not_ random. If this area has an odd measurement or an odd number of spaces we may be able to find a wall."

They took light, careful steps in case of a fall. It felt like hours of the same, featureless distance regardless of the direction they took.

"You said something earlier," Maw broke the silence. "But maybe we should talk about it later."

"What did I say?"

"Something about me dissolving the triad and something about a virgin sacrifice."

Shadow cleared his throat and looked forward. "Just rambling, I guess. There is no kind of _sacrifice_."

"You also mentioned acids and bases and the chemistry therin; and alchemy."

"Sheptilah is an alchemist."

"Yes, but why is she an acid and why is Lord Eggman a base? Why are you the result, the salt?"

Shadows ears stood erect. "Oh, _that_. Some ancient alchemic concept about putrefaction into purity. Sheptilah, as the moon, represents the element of mercury. Eggman, as the sun, represents the sulfur. I, as the star, represent the salt. That's her theory as to why the Universe chose me to be her secondary familiar and Eggman to be her protector. Alchemy as a practice combines the real with the metaphysical. The science with the magic. She believes that because I was both made from science and love, that she is a magician and Eggman is a scientist that it fulfills some kind of cosmic prophecy not understandable by mortals. She may be right."

"So the three of you represent a Universe's desire to save Mobius from the wiccaphages? That's a bit of a bold narcissism. What makes our planet so special?" Maw laughed.

Shadow shrugged. "Alchemy has never been very clear about anything in practical use or in metaphysical theory. It does not help that every culture has its own different take on it."

"Alchemy gave way to chemistry." Maw said. "The concept explained the unexplained at the time. Eventually, as technology developed so did our understanding of the Universe around us. If it did not make sense mathematically, we would work it out until we could successfully argue our theories. I appreciate alchemy as a historical facet but it certainly has no place in modern society. It's dross."

Shadow side-eyed him.

"What?"

"I disagree."

"Alright."

"For someone obsessed with perfection you are quick to ignore alchemy because of an anti-magical prejudice you seem to hold. The goal of alchemy globally has always been achieving perfection."

"Magic is unreliable and not permanent. No two casters are alike, yes? Proven science and math will always work the same regardless of who wields them. Two and two will always equal four; but no two curses work the same."

"Fair point."

"Besides, not everyone can use magic."

"That is patently incorrect. _I_ learned magic." Shadow summoned a tiny vapor bird and had it perch on Maw's shoulder. "You could, too."

"So you did." Maw 'patted' the smoke bird's head with a fingertip. The bird responded by tilting its head so the neck could be scratched. "I stand corrected, it seems." The bird dissipated.

Shadow smirked. "You'll soon learn I'm right most of the time."

The vista dissolved completely. Maw and Shadow were at the edge of a bottomless drop. The floor was made of all kinds of metals in different colors and textures flattened into place.

" _Shit._ " Shadow jumped back.

Maw looked behind them and saw they came from a dark tunnel. "I think we need to find another way out. Can you use your magic?"

"I do not know anything about our surroundings. It would be dangerous for me to do anything drastic."

Shadow gave Maw the box to hold and laid on his stomach and formed a wisp in his hands. He peeked over the edge and let it drop. It seemed to fall forever until it revealed an alleyway with doors at the very bottom.

Shadow grinned and stood up, stepping back from the edge.

"Put your helmet on." He told the thylacine while putting on his own.

"Oh, _no_ ," Maw protested, "You are _out_ of your mind."

Shadow took the box back from him. "As your superior I demand you put your helmet on. Please." His voice was muffled.

"Fine." Maw shoved it back on his head. "Listen, this is not a protest of insubordination but we _cannot_ jump that far. That is physics!"

" _We're_ not jumping." Shadow shoved the box into the thylacine's hands and picked him up bridal style. " _I'm_ jumping."

" _Wait!"_ Maw squirmed. "Shadow! Wait a second!"

Shadow swallowed hard and stepped off the edge. He free-fell for a moment before coming to a slow descent. The thylacine yelped and shuddered before realizing what happened.

The box was crushed in Maw's arms.

"I have magic, remember?" Shadow said with conceit. The rate of descent suddenly increased beyond his control and gravity caught up with him.

"Woah," Shadow yelled. "No, _no._ " He said as if he was chastising his own magic like a bad dog.

"I told you magic is unreliable!" Maw just _had_ to get one in before death, apparently.

"Brace yourself!"

They both landed with hard thuds, breaking their helmets but otherwise unhurt, cushioned by a pillow of air Shadow created at the last possible second.

"Now I am pretty sure I am dead." Maw said half-jokingly.

"You're _not_ dead." The hedgehog rolled his eyes.

"Either way, my soul has left my body." Maw shook off the tremors. "God."

* * *

Long, unbroken silence. Shadow lit the way with a wisp. There were no doorways like he previously thought but strange door-like indents that only went a foot or two into the walls and led nowhere.

"I think this is a _maze_." Maw said. "The twists and turns lead to more twists and turns that all look the same."

"Shit." Shadow said, patting himself down as if he had pockets. "I forgot the silver thread my sister gave me for my birthday. I could've tied it somewhere to find our way back."

"Shadow- the box." Maw held it out for him. "Maybe there's something useful inside. You said it was probably knitted, yes?"

They stopped for a moment and Shadow opened the box. Two dark blue sweaters, one for him and one for Sheptilah, knitted from thick, cozy yarn.

"Andrea Cabbot, you _brilliant_ woman." Shadow smiled. "The yarn is thick too, look." Shadow snagged a claw on the hem, untied it then gingerly pulled the yarn apart into two strands.

Shadow sat on the floor cross-legged and began to unravel the sweaters. Maw sat beside him and joined, both washed in the harsh lime glow of the wisp around them.

"May I talk to you about something personal, Shadow?" Maw asked sheepishly.

"What is it?" Shadow didn't look up from his work.

"I think you regret what we did." He knit his brows together. "They way you were speaking earlier… it sounded like you were upset at yourself."

"We didn't do anything." Shadow did not make eye contact.

"It's okay if you're mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?"

Maw frowned. "Because I took something you can't get back."

" _Oh, my God_." Shadow rolled his eyes. "Nothing of the sort. All we did was kiss. Can we not do this now?"

"I took away your sense of security and identity. That's what I meant."

The hedgehog's ears and cheeks were tinged red. "I'm functionally immortal. If it wasn't you it would likely have been someone else at some point. It doesn't matter."

Maw stared before casting his eyes downward.

"Is there something _you're_ not telling me?"

The thylacine took a calming breath. "I'm twenty three years old. I was thirteen when some girls held me down and tried to kiss the gay away. Obviously it didn't work." He laughed nervously. "I think I got _gayer_."

Shadow looked up at him.

"That was my first kiss and I was shaken and for years I wouldn't let people near me. I forgot all about it until Scourge yelled at me for ambushing you."

" _Scourge?_ "

"Yes. When I pinned you against the wall and kissed your neck with the other two in the room. He saw the whole thing and told me he was going to kill me if you didn't if I didn't back off."

" _Why_ would Scourge care?" Shadow looked over his shoulder.

"I don't know." Maw shook his head. "But he seemed really upset about it. The more I thought about it and what you said earlier it came flooding back. I'll never forget the look of fear on your face when I was up against you. Makes me sick to think about."

"I'm sorry that happened to you, but it isn't the same experience I had." He leaned in and whispered. "I wouldn't have asked for more if that were the case."

Maw's face felt hot and prickly.

"And I _still_ want more, but not right now. Maybe you'll be the first person I let in, maybe not. Even so, the way things are now I don't think I'd regret you being my first lover. So what if I'm untouched and unexplored? So what if you're the first person to touch parts of me no one else has? So _what_ if I'm a virgin?"

Maw tilted his head and smirked.

"Let's just take our time, okay? We'll see where this goes."

"Yes, sir." That was all the slightly flustered thylacine could say.

"Now stop wasting time. Unravel that sweater; that is an order."

"Yes, sir, as you wish, sir." Maw said glibly.

"And roll it into a ball as you go so it doesn't get knotted."

"Good idea."

* * *

Shadow tied the end of the string to a chunk of metal and walked holding the giant yarn ball, unraveling it as he went.

"Should at least get a half-mile out of all this yarn." The hedgehog said.

Maw pulled the small knife from the pocket in his boot and scratched an arrow into the wall. "To mark where we've been before and what direction we took."

"Good." Shadow praised him.

"So… what do you think this place _is?_ " Maw spoke very quietly.

"An alien ship; or at least part of one." Shadow matched his volume. "It is most likely abandoned."

A loud, groaning creak pierced the calm.

"You were saying?" Maw frowned.

"The ship may be moving." Shadow shrugged.

Many twists and turns sought to confuse the two. After traveling for hours in one direction and hitting a dead end they would turn back only to find the arrows Maw carved disappeared and the thread was stuck in the center of the wall.

"The maze is shifting…" Shadow muttered.

"I've got this feeling of dread creeping up my neck."

"Listen to that instinct. I feel the same way… almost like we're being _followed_."

"Do you think it's a minotaur?" He half-joked.

"Don't invoke anything, Maw."

"Probably not a good idea, ahem, since the minotaur was given virgin sacrifices to eat…"

"Is this a very convoluted plan to get me to sleep with you?" Shadow sighed with disgust.

Maw chuckled nervously. "N-no, I was just talking out loud…"

"Besides, virgins _survive_ in horror movies." Shadow smirked. "Usually."

"Well," Maw put his hands on his hips, "As long as the director doesn't go off script you will be fine, I assume; but…"

" _But_ what?"

"The minotaur was the son of Europa and Zeus." He paused to let Shadow infer the rest.

The hedgehog's heart dropped into his stomach. "The planet Jupiter… also known as Zeus and its moon Europa… _No_. That's not..."

As if on cue the creaking returned with the sound of faint, metallic hoof beats.

Shadow extinguished the wisp.

"Alright, _Theseus_ , protect the virgin sacrifice and fight the bull." Shadow quipped apprehensively. "For the hand of the princess."

" _A princess?_ You're not really sweetening the deal, here." Maw muttered. "A _Queen_ , maybe, but a princess?"

"That's just how the myth goes." Shadow struggled to see in the dark and was nearly blind. "Stay up against the wall, I can't see anything now."

"This way." Maw whispered. "I can see well enough. I forget hedgehogs have somewhat poor eyesight. You would think you could see perfectly in the dark."

"Yes, well, seems I'm imperfect after all."

The footsteps came closer.

Maw prayed to whatever gods he could think of that the minotaur was nothing to fear; that it was just as stupid as its mythical counterpart and not hard to defeat.

Shadow, on the other hand, wished he could see where they were going to keep them safe. He felt something bite into his ankle.

"Something just _bit_ me." He re-lit the wisp. The entire area was flooded with bright, blinding light.

The minotaur, no bigger than a doll, appeared to have the body of an adult human man but the Mobian head of a bull. It was biting and gnawing into Shadow's ankle just above his rocket skates, struggling to pierce the space suit.

"Sorry, Shadow. Looks like you're the little guy's lunch." Maw squatted with his hands on his knees. "You're going to be his lunch for a good while."

" _This_ little thing made all that noise?" Shadow shook the thing off his leg and it landed onto the hard metal floor with a pathetic squeak.

"Maybe I should take it home and keep it in a jar." Maw grinned at the stupid beast's attempt to knock Shadow over.

"Why is this place so brightly lit, suddenly?" Shadow again kicked the creature away and dissipated the wisp.

The ship creaked.

Maw picked up the creature and gripped its head tightly. With a swift motion he decapitated with the same amount of force it takes to unscrew a soda cap. The minotaur gurgled its last breath before turning into metal shavings and falling between Maw's fingers.

"This is magic." Shadow leaned in and looked at the residue left on the thylacine's palms.

"Or advanced alien science." Maw shook off the bits. "Nano robots and the like. I couldn't tell you without a powerful microscope."

They turned around to see a vast, sprawling lab appeared behind them in a place where only a wall was.

"Is _that_ an AFM?" Maw practically jumped out of his skin. "I've been petitioning Lord Eggman to get me one of those for so long!"

The large instrument looked unassuming to the uneducated viewer: a simple white cube with accompanying laptops.

"A _what?_ "

"Atomic Force Microscope! It basically reads molecules with a very sharp tip not unlike a record needle. Ones used in typical labs take twenty hours for one render. Even the tiniest changes in temperature can screw up the reading of a sample. They usually cost about seventy thousand dollars but one of this caliber is worth _millions_."

Maw approached it cautiously and studied it without touching. "I mean, he will spend billions to rebuild Thunderbolt's base but he won't invest in the Tralius Base unless we come up with more gold ore." He said bitterly.

"Maw, there was a wall back here."

The thylacine seemed to ignore him. "Maybe I can bring it back, it doesn't look heavy… An alien AFM! How marvelous."

"Maw!" Shadow huffed.

"Sha...dow?" A small voice called from behind him. He turned around to see Hebat standing in the laboratory, playing with a Bunsen burner.

"Is that… you?" She giggled.

 _Maybe we are dead_ … Shadow thought. "Hebat?"

"Yes?"

"What is this place?"

The figure of Hebat thought. "I do not know."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm here because you want me here."

"Look at these centrifuges!" Maw felt like a child on Christmas day. " _A miniaturized synchrotron!?_ "

"Are you a ghost?" Shadow asked, keeping his eye on the thylacine.

"I don't know." She answered. "You don't feel like a good familiar."

"Wh-"

"You're not a good familiar. You're passable but I would have gotten us out of this place quickly. Where is your witch? That's right, you don't know. You're too busy playing grab-ass with this blonde to care."

Shadow grit his teeth.

"An electron microscope that can see all the way into an atom and it fits on a keychain!" Maw squealed.

"How do I get out of this place?" Shadow demanded of the pink fairy armadillo.

"Same way you got in, I'm guessing."

The hedgehog had the urge to get up and grab her Oracle Stone. He reached for it but the armadillo did not react. When he pulled it out she dissolved into the same metal filings.

Shadow began kicking all of the furniture making it fall into small piles of the shiny debris.

"What…" Maw sounded disappointed when a simple poke from Shadow made the microscope in his hands vanish. He blinked. "I… got distracted. My apologies, Shadow."

"Just focus now." Shadow had an idea. He shut his eyes tight and imagined a music box playing _Clair De Lune_. When he opened his eyes the object was there, but the tune would not play.

"This is like a holodeck or something. You imagine it and it becomes real but only to a point." Maw said.

"Stop touching that shit!" Scourge appeared through the floor.

" _You_." Maw said.

"Yes, me!" The poltergeist shook his head. "I gotta get you the fuck out of here. You can't see it but I can… this place is fucking dangerous and it's a miracle neither of you dumbass bitches got impaled on something!"

Shadow walked up to Scourge and ran his hand through the spirit. "Shit, he's _real_." He said slightly unhappily.

"Now take my hands and you'll see what I mean!"

Figuring they had nothing to lose, Shadow and Maw each took one of Scourge's hands and as he pulled them through the floor the true layout of the building was revealed.

Massive needle-like spikes were shot up through the floor as if by a giant metal porcupine. They were each only a few steps away from falling to their deaths and getting skewered. Holes in the wall resembled the inside of a cheese grater and puddles of mercury pooled on the floor under them.

They themselves melted into the ground at Scourge's behest, their bodies warm and tingly as they passed through solid matter.


	86. Every Planet We Reach Is Dead

"Ugh, my head!" Silver rubbed his temples and opened his blurry, unfocused eyes.

"Good morning." Scourge tapped Silver's forehead with a finger. "That's the best thing about being a ghost, you know? I can't get knocked out."

"Huh?" Silver swung his legs beneath him. He found he was in a seat suspended from the ceiling sitting in front of a massive curved keyboard with many computer screens in front of him.

"Welcome to the cockpit of wherever the _fuck_ this is just left of Albuquerque. While you were asleep I was out lookin' at shit."

Silver adjusted his position and looked at the keys. None of them had any symbols or shapes he could recognize and all of them were made for fingers much smaller than his.

The room was circular with several doorway-like markings in the solid metal, but no openings or handles. Silver hopped out of the chair and felt the walls for a way out but found none.

"Must've belonged to an alien race that could just phase through solids." Scourge sucked on his teeth. "Or space ghosts." He wiggled his fingers menacingly. "Ooh, so spooky."

"Where are we?" Silver kicked the wall.

"Well we're in a _cock_ pit." Scourge watched the white hedgehog carefully. "It's basically a bean shaped thing in the middle of some other thing with noodly things attached to it."

"That is so very helpful, thank you." Silver rolled his eyes.

"I forget the word… There's like… pipes? Pipes connecting different things together and they do not match the rest of the architecture. Nothing here does. They're like big hallways."

"Huh?" Something caught Scourge's eye. He turned to the screens. One had turned on, showing Eggman and Sonic at a distance walking among piles of junk. "Whitey, look at this."

"Don't call me that." Silver returned to the chair and studied the screen. "Well, _they're_ okay. So if we're in the control room how do we get to them?"

"There's, like, tunnels connecting different parts to this one and some go on for _miles_. The rest are all fucked up and not connected to anything." Scourge leaned in. "There's no air or gravity in there. No living thing could make it through. They all have holes in them."

Another screen lit up showing an image of Maw and Shadow lying in a holographic field of flowers.

Silver hesitantly held a hand over the keyboard. "Should I press a button?"

"Yes, press them all of them one at a time." Scourge flashed his sharp teeth. "Let's see what happens."

He shut his eyes and pressed a random key with the very tip of his claw. Nothing happened. He experimented with the others in the same way and soon learned which keys have corresponding camera controls.

He followed the two groups with the cameras as closely as possible, but was always at a distance.

"That's not good…" Scourge huffed. "Eggman's in his panties, now. He just made a touchdown with Sonic, too. Oh, that broad exploded! God _damn_." He gagged.

"I can't figure out how to get to them." Silver panicked, "All I can do is follow with cameras." Silver hit another button, causing the walls to collapse in on Sonic and Eggman.

"I think I can tell which building they're in now… Just gotta look for the crushed one!" Scourge puffed out his chest. "My time to fuckin' shine!" He disappeared into one of the gateways.

It was forty agonizing minutes before he returned with a very shaken human and hedgehog.

"Silv!" Sonic said.

"Guys!" Silver punched the air. "Aw yeah! Great work, Scourge."

"Nice ass, Eggface." The ghost smirked.

Eggman crossed his arms. "My being in my undergarments is the _least_ weird thing right now."

"Now to find _those_ two." Scourge groaned.

Sonic leaned against the keyboard without meaning to. He had unknowingly pressed another key, lighting up the rest of the screens with horrible, pre-recorded videos.

Aliens, Mobians and humans in different period costumes alike were used in vicious experiments, forced to copulate with each other and tortured to death by some unseen entity in control of the ship.

"Nope. A whole lot of nope." Sonic said. "We gotta get out of here _now_."

" _Liberate tutemet_ , much?" Eggman said very quietly.

"Oh, _Hell_ no. None of this _Event Horizon_ bullshit!" Scourge spat. "Hell fuckin' no!"

Silver bit his lip. He pressed a random key hoping to clear the screens. He was lucky enough to pull up Shadow and Maw's excursion.

"What are they doing?" Sonic was sweating profusely. "They're just walking around a big room?"

"I don't think they can see what we see…" Eggman thought.

"I think I know what part they're in." Scourge tapped his foot. "The largest one."

"How do you know?" Sonic asked.

"I have been outside this main ship. It's like a steering wheel where we're the center and there's, like, tubes or tunnels that connect to other ships that look like they don't belong. Like they were hot glued together, you know? But the whole place looks abandoned. A lot of it is decrepit as shit."

"Including parts from Sweet Mountain that were evidently taken over by a parasitic alien that incubated itself in a young human woman." Eggman chewed on his thumbnail.

"Scavenged parts? That would explain everything looking quilted together." Scourge paced back and forth.

"What… what if we aren't alone? What if we're being watched right now?" Silver's voice trembled. "What if this isn't the cockpit?"

"It's dead center." Scourge said. "How could it _not_ be?"

"Those videos, they were like experimental logs." The white hedgehog swallowed. "Like… with Nega, remember? What if _we're_ in another experiment?"

"We can't think like that." Sonic's voice was strained like an overstretched rubber band ready to snap. "We cannot."

"Sonic is right." Eggman said. "Besides, this place is obviously abandoned. It has been for years."

"Okay, so, if you are right then _why_ was it abandoned? And by who?"

"Hey," Scourge tapped the screen, "Look."

Large, sharp spikes silently appeared around the unassuming Shadow and Maw. The hedgehog appeared to be talking to himself and Maw was looking through and interacting with unseen objects.

"I gotta go get their fucking asses before they get shishkebab-ed like I did." Scourge phased through the floor before the others could react.

He quickly returned with Maw and Shadow.

"Usually I bring the trash _out._ " Scourge dropped them at Silver's feet.

"Now we just need Nephthys and Sheptilah." Sonic cheered.

"Right, but I can't find them." Silver was getting the hang of the keyboard and toggled through the connected cameras.

"That was a unique experience I would greatly appreciate _not_ doing again." Shadow stood, brushing off his suit. He noticed Eggman's near nakedness and raised his hands in defeat, turning from him.

"What's happened?" Maw adjusted his clothing.

"A lot. We've almost got everyone together but we're missing a pair: the women." Sonic nodded.

"Stop!" Scourge shouted. "Go back."

Silver did as told.

" _There_. That's gotta be where they are. Peep all the stringy shit." The ghost tapped the screen hard. "That's hair. Only one person we know has Rapunzel hair."

"Ah!" Shadow smirked. "I know how to get her to a place where Scourge can get them."


	87. Set You Free

A massive ebony castle with spires that pierced the sky like needles stood alone on the dusty surface of Luna.

All was dark and cold except for a glimmer of soft, pink light flowing from the large balcony in the middle of the tallest tower. Sheptilah stood at the balcony, peering down at the scorched, smoking Mobius far below her moon.

She remained nude. Her long, silvery tresses grew to be miles long and spilled over the baluster like a waterfall. Rabisu themself took the appearance of a ruby, faceted like a rose-cut jewel.

She stood, staff in hand, staring down at the planet that burned for centuries and couldn't do anything to help it. The last human alone with nothing but her thoughts and all of the living beings of Mobius trapped in suspended animation, eternally sleeping in her castle walls until a safe return could be made.

Sheptilah turned back to gaze at her beloved familiar, Shadow, sleeping peacefully on a candlelit altar with all seven Chaos Emeralds inserted into the base. He was completely covered by a silk sheet.

"All this, because I am the Mercury." She said to herself bitterly.

 _We are destined to be the Philosopher's Stone. Accept it._

"I cannot even touch my familiar! I wish I could brush his spines one last time. Even if he does wake, we can never touch again. I don't want him to turn to stone and crumble."

 _A terrible lesson we learned with your husband. Your Red King._

"Silence!" Her head was splitting.

 _The planet has burnt for ten thousand years and it will burn for ten thousand more. Do not attempt to silence your only ally at this time._

This infuriated the woman. "I never asked to be the Mercury! I never asked for the moon! I never asked for the Red King or to be the White Queen! _I cannot even touch my Star!_ My Salt!

How can I live without my beloved familiar in my arms? A part of my soul lies there on a hard slab like a corpse! I can't bear to look at him! See how he is wrapped in a silk burial shroud!?"

Her anguished screams made the castle tremble.

"Rabisu! This is your fault. Had you and your partner not came to Mobius it would not be burning!"

 _This is not my fault. It was unforeseen._

"An accident is _still_ your fault! You have ruined our lives and cursed us all! I hunger but I do not starve! I thirst but I do not desiccate! I can close my eyes but I cannot sleep! This is no way to be!"

She turned and swung her staff like she was batting at invisible baseballs.

 _And you will throw tantrums like a child in the face of your goddesshood but will not come to terms with it even after all this time._

"I am only human! I cannot take the loneliness! This is Hell!"

 _You are a goddess! Revel in it!_

"I am a testament to the Universe's hubris! I am all of me and yet I am nothing! You say I have unfathomable power and can do nothing to save the smouldering crater of a planet below me!"

 _To think such a petulant woman is the Materia Prima. You are a goddess, not_ God _._

"You and I both know there is no higher being that matches such a description."

She stormed into her castle past the altar and into the great room where millions of crystalized people and animals stood embedded in the onyx like bas-reliefs.

 _God and the Universe are the same. We exist in God and we suffer in God. It is not a name like Rabisu and Sheptilah, it is a_ designation _._

"And still with magic we influence this _God_. We control _God_ with our will alone. Mortals could control _God_ with the Chaos Emeralds."

"God, if you hear me! Send me another! Do something for Mobius!" She screamed.

"Sheptilah?" Nephthys came up from behind the immortal.

 _That was handled quickly…_ Rabisu said.

The human turned to see the vulture Mobian perched on the edge of the baluster.

"Awaken. I am drowning." Was all Nephthys said.

Sheptilah coughed up wads of something foul.

"Hey!" Silver cheered. "You're alive!"

She could see they were all standing on something white like a carpet.

"I am?" Sheptilah looked around. They were in a strange place full of gigantic pulsating pods. Everything smelled of decaying flesh. Her body was hot and wet.

"What is this crap, anyway?" Sonic shook it off his shoes.

"Don't complain." Eggman stood, still in his little pink boxers, with his arms across his chest and his head sunk.

"It looks like it's digesting you." Maw said, pulling the witch free. Her suit was disintegrated in some parts but was otherwise fine.

Rabisu ached, having nearly been destroyed by the fluid themself.

"Nephthys? Where's Neph?" Tilly choked. "Where is she?"

"All we found was you, but look." Shadow held up armfuls of her hair.

"Nephthys is drowning! She's dying! You need to find her _now!_ " Tilly panicked. "I don't care if my hair is… my hair is…"

"Oxygen starvation, look." Maw pointed out her unusually pale fingertips.

Sheptilah felt compressed. Her body felt like it was on fire and she struggled to breathe. She pushed Maw away and felt something tense in her arms.

A shot of searing pain pressing against her torso woke her up for real. Some terrible, sinewy umbilical cord-like thing with a lamprey mouth on the end was trying to drill into her guts.

 _Get out!_ Rabisu commanded.

Sheptilah choked. She turned her hands into claws and scratched at the fleshy walls holding her hostage. A screaming hiss escaped as she flopped out of the airtight pod.

She crawled across the floor to find the nearest pod and slice it open. Nephthys fell from it and hit the ground unconscious. Sheptilah put the beak in her mouth and sucked the gross fluid from the nares. The vulture coughed and breathed with difficulty.

"Lady…" Neph moaned. "You got my message."

"Yes, I did." Tilly laid on her side. "What happened?"

"Those pods caught us. Tried to eat us." Neph's chest burned with extreme pain

Sheptilah felt around in the dark for her staff. When she found it she created a source of light with it and lightly pressed its end to Neph's chest, healing her.

"Thank you, my lady."

Tilly leaned against her staff and sighed. "You're welcome. So how do we get out of here?"

"Same way we got in?" The vulture pointed to the miles of hair behind Sheptilah. "We tied the ends to something from where we started."

 _Sheptilah_ … Shadow's voice rang in her head.

"Ah!" Tilly jumped. "Shadow?"

 _There you are. You must be close._

"Yeah?"

 _Turn around._

Sheptilah turned.

 _Now I can see your face. We're in a cockpit-type area and there are cameras. Do you see anything?_

"No."

 _Must be cloaked or far away. Follow my directions. Scourge is waiting for you nearby to get you back._

"Scourge?"

Nephthys watched this woman seemingly talk to herself.

 _Yes. Scourge has been quite helpful._

Through somewhat confusing directions and long pauses Shadow successfully led Sheptilah and Nephthys through the maze-like surroundings in one piece. The witch kept her glamoured hair the same in case it did not work out as planned.

Scourge peeked his head halfway through the floor and stared at them wide-eyed.

"What?" Nephthys peered down at him.

"Behind you." Scourge pulled himself through. "There's something pulsating. I can see it through the wall." He floated up to it and pressed his hand through it. "The wall isn't all that real."

The wall disappeared and revealed a massive spinning core surrounded by spikes and interlocking rings. A silvery pool of some liquid quietly bubbled below the sphere.

 _Go to it._ Rabisu urged. _It will not hurt you_.

The spikes retracted.

Sheptilah hesitantly stepped forward and found herself able to walk in the liquid, but her hair sank into its depths.

"Holy _shit_." Scourge said. "Tilly, get away from there!"

The rings stopped spinning and fell into the liquid with a hard splat but created no ripples on the surface.

"Rabisu wants me to." A gust of air blew past her as the rings dropped.

"Who is Rabisu?" Nephthys called.

"That thing on her chest is alive and its name is Rabisu." Scourge explained.

"...Of course." The vulture shook her head.

A familiar, slow piano tune floated into her head. Quietly at first but then it became louder. She reached out at the sphere, fingers spread widely. _Clair De Lune_ tinkled in her brain. It was the song her husband performed for her when she first started to fall in love with him. The sphere knew it.

Scourge attempted to run across the liquid to get the insane woman but he too started to sink into it. He pulled himself free and went back to the vulture.

" _Your soul is a delicate landscape..._ " Sheptilah muttered the poem to herself. " _Where charming rogues roam._ "

"How the fuck is she walking across that?" The hedgehog groaned.

"She's magic." Nephthys crossed her arms. "At this point, why be surprised?"

The strange thing continued to beckon her.

" _Playing the lute and dancing, seeming almost sad under their whimsical disguises... whimsical disguises..._ " She pressed her hand to the frigid sphere, noting its lack of texture.

A warm and gentle feeling filled Sheptilah's chest as the sphere dissolved, revealing a small crystal floating within its hollow walls. "A Ruby?"

 _Not exactly._ Rabisu noted.

"You were alone all this time." She said to it, unheard by the others. "You poor thing." She ran her fingers over it's curved, hot pink edges. It felt lighter than air and it glowed brightly.

 _This gem needs rest,_ Rabisu said. _It's so tired._

"Is it alive?" She cradled it like a newborn child.

 _In a way, yes._

"Does it feel?"

 _Yes. Touch it to me._

She gently pressed a corner to Rabisu. The strange gemstone became hot and rings of pink energy flew from it, completely changing the landscape. The composite ship disintegrated. Everyone was together at last in the same space, drifting above Europa in a protective bubble.

Sheptilah's hair grew miles in length, wrapping around her like a giant yarn ball. The others were similarly wrapped in her tendrils like an octopus holding its prizes.

"I feel your relief at freedom. You never wanted to be used like that, did you? But without someone to help you, you were trapped. You were used to power a giant torture machine until you rebelled...?"

A pause.

"You're jealous of Rabisu?" She giggled. "Why? Ah, I see. You'll find a nice host someday. I can't take you with me, I'm sorry. My DNA cannot be obtained because of what I am, that's why you can't fuse with me. My favorite color is purple, why?"

Deep purple stripes appeared in it.

She laughed. "I'm sorry, I don't think Mobius is ready for something like you. You would be abused again. Your powers are too great; but I would like to go back. I have to protect the people of that planet. Could you take us back, please?"

The gem glowed.

They were all brought back to Eggman's lair. The outcrop glittered with the break of dawn on the horizon.

Sheptilah brought the gem to her lips and kissed it. "May you find love wherever you go next."

She sent it rocketing off into the sky like a firework. She turned to see everyone was alright but tangled in her hair that surrounded the outcrop like a million spiders lost their self-control.

She looked down at herself and found she was wearing a sweater with a keyhole for Rabisu. "When did…"

"Hey!" Shadow shook off the strands and ran to her. "How did we get back?"

"You're wearing a sweater, too…" Tilly cocked a brow.

"This is…" Shadow tugged at the hem. "Andrea made this for us but I unraveled it to make a lead."

Eggman lifted an armful of her hair. "Our luggage is here, too…"

"I'm sorry, hold on." She tried to de-glamour her hair. Nothing happened. It really _was_ that length.

Metal Sonic opened the door with Orbot and Cubot behind him.

"That alien gemstone is amazing… it returned the items we lost on that evil ship." Tilly bit her thumbnail.

"What gemstone?" Shadow shook his head. "Rabisu?"

"No, it was in the core of that horror show. It was some phantasm of a gem. It was as ghostlike as Scourge. It brought us back because I asked it to. It warped us to save it but something went wrong and we got separated. It was hurting so badly and so tired, it's amazing we could do anything for it at all."

"A living gem…"

She sighed. "It saw Rabisu and wanted to have a host but I told it Mobius wasn't ready for something with that kind of power."

"Good decision." Shadow smirked. "Let's keep this between us, okay?"

Sheptilah nodded.


	88. Teeth

Sheptilah cut her hair with a sharp piece of volcanic rock. It was jagged and still dragged on the floor but it was more manageable. She braided several feet of hair and removed the rest from the building with magic. She then stored the braided coil in her headspace.

Eggman ran to her and embraced his wife. She hugged him back and buried her face in his chest.

"I'm so happy you're all alright," she said between breaths, "But why are you not wearing clothes?"

"Long story, honey." He pet her tresses. "Everyone… let's wash up and rest."

"He doesn't have a two gallon rule here, Maw." Sheptilah grinned.

"Thank you." The thylacine nodded.

"I'll show you where the bathrooms are." Sonic pointed to the door while looking at Silver and Maw. "This lair is practically my second home at this point."

"Mom! Dad!" MARI came out running. She pushed past Sonic and hugged the two humans. "When we lost contact with the ship we were all so worried!" Pixel teardrops appeared in her eyes.

"MARI!" Sheptilah kissed the robot's forehead. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine but everything recorded on the ship after you disappeared is gone."

"Is the Syzygy Cannon okay?" Eggman asked.

"Yes, it's still being assembled but who cares about _that?_ Machinery can be replaced but you meatbags are running on a limited lifetime warranty!"

"Enough, enough." Eggman broke the hug. "I'm very busy. Right now I need a shower, a nap and a shot of whiskey."

"Nobody missed you but Amy." Tails typed away at his laptop between sips of his soda. "We're used to you just running off for days at a time."

The gang was eating at Meh Burger despite the overcast weather threatening rain.

"It was nuts!" Sonic wolfed down his cheeseburgers. "Can you believe Eggman doesn't keep chili dogs on his space ships? Unbelievable."

"Why would he keep chili dogs on _his_ ships? His favorite food is eggs." Sticks scoffed. "Use your noodle!"

Amy lightly dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. "What all did you do for three horrible days?"

"I saw Europa." Sonic peeled back the lid of his drink and chomped on an ice cube.

"Europa is a _container_ in the northern hemisphere of Mobius. I'm sure you saw a lot of those condiments in space." Knuckles said matter-of-factly.

"You mean _Europe_ is a _continent_." Tails rolled his eyes.

"Europe is the English equivalent of _Europa_ , which is what Europe was named after." Sticks tossed a fry at the fox.

"I should know! They're feeding the information directly into my brain via radio waves you can only hear if you face just the right direction at six am and have fillings in certain back teeth." Sticks nodded.

"... right." Sonic said, "No, I saw Europa, the moon. Jupiter's moon."

"How did you get that far out in three days? That would take _months_ at minimum." Tails closed his laptop.

Sonic shrugged. "It was some weird alien technology or magic that got us out that far. I think Sheptilah and Shadow know what all happened but they won't talk about it. All I know is the alien ships are gone now and everything's fine."

"If you wind up _not_ pregnant I will be very surprised." The badger crossed her arms.

Sonic spat out his food.

"I was never out of my suit!" Sonic crossed his arms. "Well... no I _was_ out of my suit, but nothing touched me!"

"Uh huh." The badger eyed him very closely.

"The ship was abandoned. No one had been up there for years." He lied, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I can't even get pregnant…" He muttered to himself. "...right?"

"Then you're fine." Sticks waved him off.

"How beautiful was Europa?" Amy leaned in.

"Fun to look at but not for long. The radiation out there is _crazy_. It did something to that woman… she hasn't been the same and neither has Shadow. It never occured to me that the light from _other_ moons could affect their magic."

"Be careful around radiation." Tails warned. "You know how susceptible hedgehogs are to cancer."

" _Mobini_ hedgehogs." Sonic stressed. "The jury is still out on big ones like me."

"Better safe than sorry." Knuckles said.

"Hey, how has Shadow been acting weird? Sheptilah acting weird is normal but _Shadow?_ " Amy focused her eyes on Sonic.

"I don't know. Something very odd is going on with him and that…I forget what he is. It sounds like… glycerine? Listerine?"

"Thylacine; the 'e' is silent. Thigh-lah-sin." Sticks said. "'Extinct' marsupial mobini and critically endangered Mobian race; but I'm pretty sure the mobini are still around hiding somewhere. Those things are freaky! Their pouches face the wrong way! Total aliens."

"Yes, that thing!" Sonic pointed with a french fry. "Maw the thylacine. They stare at each other a _lot_."

"I'd stare at a marsupial whose pouch faces the other way, too." Sticks said.

"Who the heck is Maw?" Amy crumpled up her garbage and threw it in the bin.

"Some Egg Boss from Downunda." Sonic shrugged. "Some kind of chemistry and robotics wiz."

"All the aliens come from Downunda!" Sticks shouted in response being ignored. "That's ground zero for all the creepy crawlies!"

"Probably trying to poach him for GUN or something," Tails opened his laptop again and did a search on the man.

"That's what Eggman said but Shadow denied it. They seem to be competing against each other a lot, too. I don't know. Maybe Shadow knows something we don't. That Egg Boss is new to all of us. I can't tell if they like each other or hate each other, sometimes."

Sticks bit her tongue.

* * *

Sheptilah made a delicious tea from the flowers in Eggman's garden and set the cups out on the dining room table. The fragrant blossoms floated in the pink-tinted water, beads of condensation from the steam formed on the edges. She served the tea with freshly made madeleine cookies.

Although they had changed their clothes, Shadow and Sheptilah still wore their sweaters.

"Thank you." Maw said. He waited for his drink to cool before he attempted to sip it.

Shadow sat beside Maw, directly across from Eggman. Sheptilah took a seat next to her husband and Nephthys sat at the head of the table.

"Doctor Cortés is flying in with a colleague to help with the surgery to repair your cybernetics. If all goes well we can do the surgery _tonight_. Your x-rays came back pretty clean, so it'll be easier than expected."

Maw moved his foot so it was lightly touching Shadow's. "Thank you, Doctor. I am anxious to get back to full capacity so I can serve you to my full potential."

"You handled yourself well. You're a shining example of what an Egg Boss should be." He nodded.

"Thank you for protecting Shadow." Sheptilah grinned. "It's good to know I can genuinely trust you. I've got little confidence in many of the Bosses, you know?" She turned to the vulture. "You two are the most reliable."

"I am just doing my job." Maw gave a cursory nod.

"I protected _him_ ," Shadow insisted, "He saw a mirage of some science equipment and became useless. He was like a little kid in a toy store."

"Briefly," Maw shot him a look, "We were _delirious_ from hunger."

" _You_ were delirious." Shadow smirked. "I was on my _toes_ and highly alert." He moved his foot.

"Don't laugh at the man," Ivo chided, "I get giddy when I see some sexy new lab equipment in the villain magazines."

"It's true; he does." Tilly stuck out her tongue.

Maw frowned, then turned to Sheptilah. "What happened when you were with Nephthys? What did you see?"

" _Me?_ " She was caught off guard by the questions. "Oh, I was in a nightmare. I had a freak out."

 _That explains some things,_ Maw thought. He lifted the teacup to his mouth and inhaled the aroma.

"You may want to hold off on anything but water. You haven't eaten in awhile which is good. You need to stay fasting for your surgery." Eggman took the cup from him. "We can't have you aspirating into your lungs."

"Fair enough." Maw sat back.

Shadow took out his cell phone and turned it on. He had over six hundred missed calls and seventy two recorded messages. "Good lord, Rouge."

"Girlfriend of yours?" Maw looked at the screen.

"No, she's my partner at GUN. Apparently she was a _little_ worried." He scrolled through the frantic texts. He popped a cookie in his mouth before getting up from the table. "I've got to go to GUN before Rouge has a stroke."

"Bye, Shads." Tilly waved her fingers. "Say hi for me, please; and thank Andrea for the sweaters."

"Of course." The hedgehog nodded before leaving.

Tilly dipped a cookie in her tea and nibbled on it. "How long will the surgery take?"

"Eh, about three hours if nothing goes wrong." Eggman slurped down his drink. "This tea is fantastic! I didn't even have to add extra sugar to it…"

"Aw, thanks. I used honey to make it." She smiled.

"It is quite good." Nephthys spoke.

"Ah, right. Nephthys, you can go back to your base now. Thank you for your service this week."

"Are you sure, Lord Eggman?" The vulture tilted her head ever so slightly.

"Yes, all will be fine. You've been through enough. I know you're no spring chicken."

"Ivo." Tilly rolled her eyes.

"Ahem, you're dismissed, Nephthys."

Doctor Cortés arrived with the aptly named Doctor Smiley; a Pembroke Welsh corgi Mobian with the same colors and markings as any other dog. His tall, stiff ears were often all you can see of him from behind solid furniture.

"This is Doctor Frasier Smiley." Lourdes introduced him.

"I'm the orthognathic surgeon all the worst criminals call on." He said cheerfully, standing on the balls of his feet. "I once had to perform surgery in the back of a moving van while being shot at! It was fun until all my work was thrown out the window when the patient was shot in the head; but that doesn't count as a patient death on _my_ part."

Lourdes grinned, her front teeth shining.

"Well, no one will be shooting at you today." Eggman let them into the lair. "All of the tools you'll need are in the operating room. Would you like some refreshments?"

"Double espresso," Frasier said, "I want to be as perky as possible! And have your machines ready up some music I can jam to while working. I really like bubblegum pop as a genre. It's very uplifting. Where do I scrub up?"

"There's a station for that." Eggman led them to an elevator and went up to the fifth floor. Sheptilah was waiting by Maw who was in a hospital bed ready for surgery.

"This is my wife, Sheptilah."

"Pleasure to meet you!" Frasier grabbed her hand and shook it. "I'm Doctor Smiley!" He turned to Eggman and winked. "Ah, you picked a cute one!"

"It's very nice to meet you." She responded with the same energy. "Hello, Lourdes! It's nice to see you again."

"You look much better," the chinchilla said, "Good for you!"

"Thank you, Doctor Cortés." Tilly smiled.

"Your teeth _could_ use straightening." Smiley peered into her mouth. "Not bad, though. Occlusion looks good."

Tilly tilted her head back and shape shifted in massive, sharp fangs and hissed.

"Oh, delightful!" Frasier clapped his hands together with delight. "She shape-shifts! I _love_ it."

* * *

Maw groaned. The discomfort from not eating and having an IV in his arm was getting to him. Tilly turned back to him and stroked his head soothingly. They waited patiently for the doctors to arrive.


	89. Circles

An hour into the surgery things were well underway and proceeding fine.

"Doctor Eggman?" Smiley looked up from his work when he saw the human move oddly out of the corner of his eye.

The human swayed on his feet. "Maybe I was not ready to come back…" He sat on the floor away from the operating table and rubbed his temples. "Suddenly I'm exhausted."

Lourdes jumped down and checked him over. "When did you last eat?"

"Not that long ago." He answered.

"Stay here for a minute, okay? Until you feel better." Lourdes went back to monitoring Maw's vitals.

"This surgery is going to take at least five hours and I need you awake to supervise. Remember, if the cybernetics malfunction we could all get sucked in! That sounds terrible." Smiley dug around in Maw's gums.

Eggman shook it off and stood. "I'm fine, I think I just had some kind of blood pressure drop. It only lasted a spell." He stretched until he heard the joints in his spine pop.

"Neurally mediated hypotension!" Smiley looked up. "You were standing still too long hunched over and watching us. Walk around the room a bit, you'll feel better." The corgi went back to his work.

* * *

The breathing tube was removed and a feeding tube was inserted through Maw's nose into his stomach. An antiemetic was pumped into it by a syringe to prevent the thylacine from choking on the tube if the anesthesia gave him a negative reaction.

"And done!" Smiley said. "And now we lock the cybernetics back into place so they can heal…"

With a click, Maw's jaw was back where it belonged. Smiley applied the cold compresses to Maw's cheeks and wrapped them into place with gauze.

"They're kinda cute when they're unconscious." Eggman removed his rubber gloves and surgical mask.

Lourdes removed the IV needle delivering the anesthetic and prepared a warm saline bag.


	90. The Poton

Shadow teleported into Rouge's room and he began his work of carefully inspecting her wing membranes.

He looked at her wing by holding a flashlight beneath the transparent flesh and inspected it for micro cuts.

"Tower is mad at you." Rouge leaned forward with her head in her hands.

"What's new?"

"He's _really_ mad, Shadow." She sighed, "He thinks you're shirking your job here. Things are peaceful but peace is always temporary."

"Have you ever known me to be lazy?"

"Just the opposite: you like to do things the hard way."

"Protecting my sister so that she can protect the planet seems to top walking around GUN aimlessly and be bored out of my mind. Does he think I'm at the spa getting my toe claws done or something? I was lost in space with this blonde thylacine, two dingus hedgehogs and two of the most overclocked humans on Mobius for the better part of a week and that was _not_ a picnic."

Shadow shuddered. "We saw some things, Rouge."

"Thylacine?" She perked up. "What is that?"

"Some indigenous species from Downunda that's extinct as Mobini and critically endangered as Mobians. He looks like a big yellow cat, really. His name is Maw and his jaw is a _disaster_. It nearly fell out of his face and I mean that literally."

"His _jaw?_ " Her brows shot up.

"Yes, it's metal. He looks and dresses like a Bond villain but with a Tralusian accent. Apparently the Doctor had to operate on it _today_ and Sheptilah was left alone with his mother when she crashed the party. Hence why I had to poof over there just now. Anyway, Maw is an Egg Boss and a huge chemistry nerd and nearly got us killed when some alien space station showed him his version of a desert oasis: a pristine laboratory."

"He must be a new Egg Boss since _I_ haven't heard of him."

"He isn't _new_ he was just on hiatus. He says that Eggman ignores his outpost because it's not digging up enough gold for him to make it worthwhile."

" _Gold?_ "

"Opals, too." He turned off the flashlight and set it down. "Your wings are fine. Just a few superficial scratches."

"Shadow, you need to introduce me to this Egg Boss right away!" She giggled with glee.

"Rouge, I think he's seeing someone."

"What? _No!_ Shadow, I want the treasures!"

Shadow sighed with disgust. "You and Eggman, both."

* * *

Sheptilah studied her reflection in the bathroom screen that mimicked a mirror's surface. The sound of the bathtub filling seemed to drown out any thought that crossed her troubled mind leaving it utterly blank.

She peeled off her clothing and let it fall to the floor.

She tilted her head to the side, not breaking eye contact with herself.

She heard the faucet squeak by itself and turned to see Scourge was responsible.

"You're gonna flood the place if you're not…" He squinted at her. "Careful… Sheptilah?"

She brushed past him and slowly stepped into the water.

"You alright, babygirl?"

"What does _babygirl_ mean?"

"A term of endearment that I use in an infantilizing way with _you_ , specifically."

"Oh."

Scourge softened and looked at her with pity. "You're a glass cannon, you know?"

"Hm?" She looked up at him.

"It means you have insane offensive power but one hit and you're _dead_." He sucked on his teeth. "You need better combat training. You can't _always_ rely on that bullshit healing factor if you want to stay alive."

She felt really small. "You're not the first person to tell me that." She shifted into the shape of a silver fish less than two feet long. She swam laps in the hot water.

"What the Hell are you?"

"I'm a binny; it's an indigenous fishy where I'm from." She poked her head out of the water. "I don't want to be human right now."

"Be serious."

"Fine." She said, turning into Sonic but kept her voice. "Better?"

"I have the urge to drown you."

She made gills appear on her throat.

"I know you can breathe water when you want but I'd _love_ to try holding your head under water for a month." He noticed her version of Sonic was also missing the left pinky and frowned.

She turned back into her normal form and leaned back in the tub, eyes closed. Her hair floated on the surface like an oily stain.

Scourge kneeled beside the tub and leaned his arms on the edge. He stared at her chest and navel through the gaps of her locks.

She popped an eye open. "Don't even think about it, little boy. I don't play with kids."

"I'm remembering cutting you open and holding your still-beating heart in my hands. It was so _weird_. I could never see someone as sexual after that; especially not a human. If it ain't furry it ain't fo' me, you dig?"

"I don't remember my heart being taken out..." She put her hand over her left breast.

"It's just as well." He watched her hair move in the water. "After that infected Y-incision it's a miracle Eggbutt will even touch you. He really does love you."

"Do you feel unlovable?"

"I am beloved by everyone and every _thing_. I'm the king, baby."

"You hate me because my torso healed without scarring and I can walk away from a devastating blow to the skull."

"I don't _hate_ you." He squinted. "Greatly dislike, yeah, but hate? Meh. You should hate _me_ and you don't."

"Ivo once said that I am capable of loving anyone despite everything simply because I love Sonic and his friends. I guess he was right."

"You… love me? I removed your pinky. I tried to make you eat your own heart!" Scourge stood up and stared at his shaking hands. "I wore rubber cleaning gloves I found in the bathroom! I held the bone saw that cut through your femur, woman!"

"Stop embellishing!"

"I'm not! I'm holding _back_."

"Ivo once smashed my head open on the pavement outside his lair and that was after he had his hands around my neck."

"Holy fuck."

"He didn't mean to smash my head open, but still. I stabbed him in the guts for it before healing him. Apparently, when I suffer a brutal head injury and I come back I get vicious."

"Wait a fucking second." Scourge's spines stood erect. "You married a guy that put his hands around your throat in a non-sexy manner?!"

"It makes sense in context; he thought I was going to sell him out to GUN and he wanted to protect his empire. He didn't choke me, just held me in place. I stabbed myself to trigger the bond and it made him, _reflexively,_ mind you, throw me down. He didn't know his own strength and accidentally smashed open my skull like a pumpkin."

She grinned like a jack-o-lantern. "When I forced him into a memory share I saw he never meant to hurt me and immediately regretted it."

"Still, what the _fuck_ , though!?"

She moved toward the spirit and was up belly-down in the water like a seal. Her thin fingers curled over the edge of the clawfoot tub like brown vines.

"I've already forgiven you for everything. There's nothing to hate about you anymore. Besides, it's much easier for me to love you than it is to hate you. You're my friend, Scourge."

"What are you getting at?"

She raised her brows. "I don't understand."

"What do you want from me?" Scourge gagged. "What are you after?"

"Nothing!" She giggled, "You're my friend and I love you."

Scourge clutched his chest in a melodramatic manner. "I… my heart… it's _growing…_ it's... _three sizes bigger!_ Oh, Thurl Ravenscroft's _ghost!_ " He pretended to faint.

"What in the gods damned _Hell_ are you talking about, Scourge?" She peered over the edge.

The ghost just shook his head in disbelief and sunk through the floor.

* * *

Shadow teleported to the lair and rang the bell. Sheptilah answered wearing comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt with Eggman's logo emblazoned across the breast. As usual, she was not wearing shoes.

"I came to check in on you." Shadow nodded.

"Come on in." Sheptilah stepped out of the way. "I'm doing alright."

"I was feeling weird so I thought I'd make sure."

"Oh, my little love dumpling!" Eggman trotted into the hallway and took his wife in his arms, dipping her. "Are you feeling good?"

She giggled, "Yes! Is Maw awake?"

Ivo lifted her up and kissed her cheek. "Yes, he is; but he can't talk. His whole head is swollen. Do you want to go see him?"

Sheptilah nodded. "Come on, Shadow. Let's go see our favorite Egg Boss."

"He is hardly _my_ favorite." Shadow lied.

Eggman led them to the recovery room which was little more than a spare closet with a bed and a television. Maw's head was swollen and packed in ice.

"Maw, Sheptilah and Shadow are here to see you." Ivo said quietly.

The thylacine raised a hand to greet them. He could barely open his puffy eyelids.

"You look like an angry, fuzzy lemon." Shadow snickered.

Maw grunted.

"You feeling okay?" Sheptilah went up to him.

Maw raised his thumb in response.

"Want me to heal you?"

Maw pointed his thumb downwards.

"I get it, yeah…" She frowned and felt inadequate.

"Hello, Maw." Shadow said.

The thylacine's ears swiveled and he perked up. He waved his fingers in the direction of Shadow's voice.

"Why is he so swollen?" The hedgehog turned to Eggman.

"Well, double jaw surgery is extremely invasive. It went very well but it's still a serious trauma to the face." The overlander fluffed his mustache.

Sheptilah felt a twinge in her heart. A weird, familiar but almost longing ache and wasn't sure why. "Ivo?"

"Yes, my love?" He turned to her.

"I'm going to my hut for the night. I uh… would feel better after fixing it up. I'm sure it's a mess."

"I'm going with you, then. Just in case mother comes back…"

"Do you need me to go with you, too?" Shadow asked.

"No, you can stay here if you want."

"I'm going back to GUN if I'm not needed." Shadow hugged his sister. She returned the gesture and patted his head. He teleported out.

He waited a good thirty minutes before poofing back in, sure that the two humans would be gone.

"It's me." He whispered to Maw.

Maw's face had become significantly less swollen, but was still puffy. He opened his eyes and smiled at the hedgehog.

"Do you want me to heal you?" Shadow crossed his arms.

"Yes, please. The painkillers wore off a little while ago." He gripped the sheets with his hands, knuckles turning white. He tried not to gag on his feeding tube.

Shadow pulled off his gloves and gently slipped his warm hands onto Maw's iced face. Slowly and carefully, he healed the thylacine. Unlike Sheptilah's, Shadow's magic had a tingly heat to it like cinnamon candy. He pulled off the brace holding Maw's mouth shut and laid it in the bed.

Maw himself removed the feeding tube with the same tender caution. He took his time so it wouldn't trigger his gag reflex. Once it was out he coughed and sighed. He rolled his jaw back and forth, getting a feel for it. "That is so much better, thank you."

Shadow nodded. He watched the thylacine gingerly remove his IV and turned off the machine. He changed into his uniform which was tucked away nearby. He seemed to be doing a reverse strip-tease for Shadow, starting with his socks. The hedgehog found himself staring at the wide-set horizontal stripes along Maw's back that converged at his tail. He slowly pulled on his shirt, buttoning it and straightening it out.

"Thank you." He said in a quiet voice. "Thank you, Shadow."

Shadow looked over the thylacine thoughtfully. The slightest smile formed in the corner of his mouth.

"What?" A blonde eyebrow was raised.

"Wait outside the lair. I'll be right back." Shadow vanished again.


	91. Fast Car

Maw stood outside the lair in the cool, brisk moonless night. The roar of the ocean was alarming to him, but not nearly as alarming as parking a lair on an active volcano. The glow of the lava bubbling up lethargically from the center of the planet was certainly beautiful but all he could think of was how dangerous it was.

MARI exited the lair with something round in her hands. "Shadow requested I give you this." Her body glowed pink and blue, the lines running down her torso resembled the overhead grid of a city at night.

It was a full-face black motorcycle helmet with holes for his ears. The fairly heavy weight of the gear seemed to ground him.

"A helmet?"

"You'll see." MARI giggled.

A portal ripped open and out came Shadow on his gorgeous Mobian-sized motorcycle. He donned a black leather jacket and a matching helmet that barely fit his quills. The tips of his ears poked out from the holes made for them.

He turned off the bike and let it lean on the kick stand. Shadow lifted his visor and smirked at Maw.

Maw felt his cheeks tingle.

"This is Dark Rider, my girl." Shadow gestured to the vehicle. "I'm very proud of this bike."

"Hello, Dark Rider." Maw waved to it.

"Now, for the second time this week, put on your helmet." Shadow demanded.

"Where'd your spikes go?" The blonde put his helmet on.

"They're in the helmet."

" _How?_ "

"I'm a hedgehog of many talents. I didn't always wear one but I can't go anywhere without getting mobbed by fans now. I can make the ones on my back lay down so they don't pierce things."

He slashed a portal open to an alleyway somewhere.

He mounted his bike and revved it.

"Oh, there's a Bluetooth microphone in here!" Maw said delightfully. "I don't have to shout."

"Get on the damn bike." Shadow said impatiently.

"I have never ridden a motorcycle before." Maw cautiously got on and held onto Shadow's waist.

"It's like riding a horse." MARI said helpfully. "Just a _really_ fast one."

"Please don't stab me with your spines."

"And ruin my jacket? Never." Without warning Shadow took off through the portal. Maw yelped and held on tighter. The tear closed behind them.

* * *

Central City was a glittering burst of color at night despite the threat of rain. Shadow was daring but not reckless when he had a passenger. Weaving between cars he sped up and down the streets, taking shortcuts where necessary. There was no real urge to get to their destination, so they took the long way.

"I've not been here before." Maw said.

"Welcome to Central City, California."

"So what exactly are we doing out here?"

"We're going to Santa Monica. I have a craving for street food."

"So we traveled thousands of miles by portal just to drive the rest of the way there?" Maw huffed.

"Are you _not_ having fun?" Shadow furrowed his unseen brow.

"Don't get me wrong, I am having fun." He laughed. "A _lot_ of fun, but my butt is numb all the way to my tail."

"We're almost there." Shadow said. "Some of the best food trucks park out here. I know a great franchise that has the best Tex-Mex."

The pier came into view. Faint screams of passengers on the roller coaster could be heard despite the park looking deserted. Late October at the pier was mostly empty as the tourists went home for the fall. All that remained was the joyful noises of the locals finally getting to enjoy the fruits of their neighborhood in peace.

Shadow pulled up to a taco food truck that was not designed for those as small as Mobians. The high-up window made negotiating the order difficult.

A pale-skinned adult with long brown hair tied into a hasty bun leaned down. "Hey, you're one of them fuzzies!" He said in a heavy Polish accent.

"Furry." Shadow lifted his visor.

"Yeah, yeah! English is not my only language." The person pointed to the menu on the side of the truck. "What you want?" He scratched at the hairs on his skinny but rugged chin.

"I'll take a number five with a lemonade." Maw said.

"I'll do a number six with a large sweet tea." Shadow nodded.

"Okay! Will be done in fifteen minutes." He snapped on clean gloves and got to work. Five minutes in they heard yelling and clucking from inside truck.

" _Skurwielu!_ " The man shouted. "Move, Dola."

Something like a hissing, cackling laughter was followed by another loud thud and the crash of a pan.

"Are you alright?" Shadow raised a brow.

" _Trzymaj się swojego fiuta!_ " The man said. He crawled over to the window. "Sorry, my coworker is uh… she is testy. Your food is almost done." He disappeared again.

Maw turned to Shadow and shrugged.

"It's California." The hedgehog explained.

A black rooster appeared on the roof of the truck staring daggers into the Mobians.

"I don't know what that is but it's _gorgeous._ " Maw pointed to the bird. "That a weird bird indigenous to the area?"

"I think that's a _chicken_." Shadow squinted. "Maybe not."

The bird turned to him and stretched its neck out to get a better look. Cocking its head, the bird seemed like an oil slick come to life and the unnatural way the feathers moved unnerved the furries.

"Here you go!" The human handed a bag of food to the Mobians, breaking the tension. Shadow took it without fuss as the plastic bag was long enough to reach him.

"And here are the drinks…" He realized his mistake. "Uh, one second." He got out of the truck and handed Maw the drinks. Shadow paid for the food in cash and waited for his change.

"Can you take this to the table over there?" Shadow pointed. "I'll be right over."

"Sure." Maw walked off.

The man was able to hand Shadow his change without a problem. The hedgehog picked out a five dollar bill and held it up to the man. "Here's a tip-"

The chicken swooped down and stole the money, pecking Shadow's finger in the process. The bird landed in the parking lot and stuffed it in its feathers.

"Ow!" Shadow said.

" _Kurwa_ , Dola!" The man sighed and shrugged, "Eh, it's safer with her. Thank you!" He waved to the Mobian.

"Thank you." Shadow said, turning away. He walked his bike back to where Maw sat. The two dug into their food and drinks after taking off their helmets. Although street food was messy Maw forgave the hedgehog for his faux pas just this once.

Maw sipped his drink, nearly spitting it out when it hit his tongue. "Ack!"

"Too sour?"

"This isn't lemonade."

"May I?" Shadow took the drink with permission and tasted a sip. "This is lemonade."

"I guess it's another regional thing." The thylacine frowned. "I guess you call it something else. I'm used to lemonade being a light, clear soda pop."

"Has a little lemon and lime on the can?"

"Yeah."

"That's Sprite." Shadow gave the drink back. "I can get you a different drink if you like."

"No, no." Maw was embarrassed and shook his head. "I like cloudy lemonade. It was just not the flavor I expected."

Shadow sucked on his straw and snickered at the thylacine.

"So chickens here are not much different from magpies, huh?" Maw grinned, "Those birds are crazy. They'll dive bomb you like a kamikaze and rip apart your house." He visibly enjoyed his crunchy shell taco despite trying to eat it as neatly as possible. "It's so good to be able to have solid food again."

"Good to hear." Shadow's burritos disappeared one by one as he ate them quickly between drinks of his sweet tea. Maw wasn't sure if he liked the way Shadow's absurdly long tongue wrapped around the food like a snake when he ate. He also wasn't sure Shadow _knew_ he did that at all.

He stopped himself from letting his mind wander into lewd territory and continued the conversation.

"Once we had a magpie somehow get into the base and the damned bird tore apart all our keyboards. If seagulls are embodied hubris then magpies are _malice_." The thylacine took the lid off of his drink and sucked on a lemon slice he plucked from the crushed ice to clear his palette. His face twisted with the joyful, sour sting of a citrus fruit.

"I don't know, have you ever upset a chicken? They'll hunt you down and kill your family. They are a _lot_ faster than they look." Shadow chuckled. A humid breeze floated in from the sea, ruffling their fur.

"So why _here?_ " Maw looked longingly at Shadow.

"This is where the Black Arms first attacked." The hedgehog inhaled the scent of the nearby ocean. "I haven't been here since and wanted to see how it looked. It's like it never happened."

"I see." Maw said. He sat back and thumped his belly with the palm of his hand. "I didn't realize how hungry I was. that was good. Thanks."

"I could feel your stomach rumbling against my back." The hedgehog smiled. "It's nice that you don't look like a big tennis ball anymore."

Maw stuck out his tongue. "I hate getting the surgery but I'm used to it. I wish you didn't have to see me so puffy." He fluffed up the fur around his cheeks. "It's not very becoming."

"I've seen worse." Shadow shrugged. "Eggman once had a _beard_."

"Yikes." Maw said with a chuckle.

Shadow's smile faded. He looked off to the lit Ferris Wheel and let his vision unfocus. The lights became glowing balls of color slowly rotating like rising and setting suns.

Maw tilted his head, curiously watching the hedgehog's behavior.

"Is something bothering you?" He finally asked.

Shadow's ears perked up and he turned around. "Not really, just worried about… things. Listen," he leaned in close, "Are you _sure_ you don't want to join GUN?"

"I can't do that." Maw shook his head. "You know this."

"Alright." He took their trash to a nearby bin and came back. "I get it."

"What do you wanna do now?" Maw smiled.

"I guess I can take you back to the lair."

"We can go anywhere in the world, right?" Maw's tail swished back and forth. "You want to end the date so soon?"

Shadow frowned. "Date?"

"Hey…"

"We should talk."

"Oh."

Shadow grabbed Maw with one hand and the bike with the other. He teleported them to a nearby tar roof. He let his bike lean against a chimney and sat cross-legged looking out at the city. Maw sat with him with his knees to his chest.

"What's eatin' you?" Maw rested his cheek on his knees.

"I had a lot of fun out here tonight. I am not sure I could get away with it again, though." Shadow did not make eye contact. "Maw, I can't be with an Egg Boss."

The thylacine sat up.

"I just can't be. I represent GUN and GUN represents the best intentions of many world leaders. It's my home and my family."

"Your family is also the Empress of the Eggman Empire." Maw took Shadow's hand. "Not to mention you've always been family to Lord Eggman. I know your life's complicated. I didn't mean to make it worse by mistaking this for a date."

Shadow squeezed his hand. "I hate how weak I am around you. Normally I never talk to anyone but with you I just keep spilling my words. I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not."

"I keep thinking with the wrong organ."

Maw snickered and broke out into hearty laughter. "You're _still_ horny?"

"I meant my heart."

"I see; _I'm_ the idiot." Maw wiped the tears from his eyes and gasped for breath. He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Shadow's shoulder.

"I really, _really_ like you, you know?" He grinned, "But we never talked about a possible relationship. We were just fooling around- you said so yourself."

"Feels like whatever I do it is going to be the wrong decision." Shadow looked at Maw.

"What _do_ you want to do?"

"I want to live in a quiet moment without some sort of doom looming over my head. I want to be able to live my life like a normal person. I wish I could be as carefree as my sister is with who she loves and how she loves them. I wish I could just shut up and stop telling you everything but I can't. Something about you just makes it physically impossible for me to not want to hold you."

Shadow buried his face in his hands. "I can never be a normal person, though. I'll outlive everyone. Love and relationships are not something meant for immortals."

"That's _right_ , you're functionally immortal…" Maw frowned, feeling his heart hurt.

"I don't like getting close to people. Someday I'm going to notice the people around me can't move or exist they way they always could. Sometimes when I see them I think about what I'd say at their funeral I know I'm going to attend at some point. This is assuming that I don't die when the final fight with the wiccaphages comes."

"Why would _you_ die? You're Shadow the hedgehog."

"Sheptilah's original familiar died. She's convinced she's going to die, too. If she does, it's likely I'll go down with her. It's just… easier if I don't form relationships; especially doomed ones."

"Well, if you're damned if you do and damned if you don't, you might as well have fun, right? Hanging out is not the worst thing we can spend our time doing, you know. I do genuinely like being around you." Maw rubbed Shadow's shoulder with his thumb.

Shadow leaned his head against Maw. "It's always something."

The blonde mulled over everything in his usual calculating manner. Although Shadow couldn't leave GUN and he himself could not leave the Empire perhaps there was a compromise that could be made between the two entities.

"May I kiss you?" Maw asked. "Just one last time? A kiss to build a dream on?"

Shadow looked up at the thylacine whose fur seemed to glow in the city lights. The Louis Armstrong reference was not lost on him. His expression softened and he nodded. The blonde leaned in and gently kissed his lover on the lips.

Shadow deepened it, somehow finding his way into Maw's lap. His eyes stung and his heart ached but he kissed the thylacine anyway. There was no resisting the way Maw made him feel normal.

"Fuck it. We'll keep this all a secret." Shadow said, breaking the kiss. "And we'll just see where this goes."

"Are you sure? Closeted life is suffocating."

"It's just for now." Shadow nodded.

"Perfect." Maw nuzzled the hedgehog's cheek.

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"We've angered the gods." Shadow joked, looking up.

"Maybe they're _applauding_ us." Maw suggested with a shrug. "You should see the storms we get in Down Unda. Blow the red right off your spines." His accent was more pronounced now. "After it rains in the outback there's always an explosion in budgie population."

"I hear you've got scary bugs in the land down under." Shadow said. "Bigger than me."

"Nah. It's not the _bugs_ you gotta worry about, it's those magpies; but I'll protect ya." Maw squeezed his lover. "Let's get out of here before it rains." He snuck another kiss.

* * *

Somewhere near Burbank they stood under an awning with the bike waiting for the rain to pass. Heavy droplets fell leaving a mist at their feet. The water ran like tiny rivers in the gutters taking any errant trash with it down the sewer drain.

Shadow leaned against the brick wall with his hands in his pockets. "Looks like the drought is over." He braced himself with a foot against the wall.

Maw scrolled through his phone checking for messages. "Is this unusual for this area?"

"Yes and no." Shadow snuck a peek at Maw's phone and saw they were mostly angry texts from Thunderbolt.

"Want to know a secret?" Maw slipped his phone back into his pocket.

"What?"

"I've never seen snow."

"Well, have I got a base for you." Shadow said in a tone not unlike that of a game show host. "Although it is destroyed. The far north base. Snow for as far as your eyes can see."

"I don't think I want to see _that_ much snow."

"The aurora borealis is beautiful, though. You can see the stars so clearly between the veils of dancing light."

"You can see the stars in the outback, too." Maw stretched out his arm and gestured broadly. "It's so quiet and remote that many people go there just to get photos of them. You can see the Milky Way reach across the horizon like a rip in the sky."

Maw inhaled sharply through his teeth. "It's like a gateway to another Universe that's just out of reach. We can see the edge of our galaxy we call home with the naked eye." He took his hand back and pressed it against his chest.

"I think now it will just remind me of the terrors of space. Europa was… a _lot_."

Shadow rubbed a fang with his tongue. "Seeing you go ga-ga over the lab equipment was cute."

Maw pouted and turned away with a huff.

"Are we boyfriends now?" The hedgehog swallowed hard but tried to keep a stoic face. His voice was timid and delicate.

"Only if you want to be." the thylacine side-eyed Shadow. He turned and looked down his nose at him. "Do you _want_ to be my boyfriend?"

"What does it even entail?"

Maw raised his eyebrows. "For me it means we date each other exclusively and we don't look elsewhere, even if it is secret."

"Yeah, I can do that." Shadow looked at his skate. "Just don't expect sex."

Maw snickered. "I'm lucky I got as far as I did with _you_. I don't expect anything; but I won't lie: it's pretty nice sharing a moment like that with someone. The literal closeness is incomparable."

Shadow's cheeks reddened. "I am going to take my time with a relationship."

"Then when, and _if_ , it happens it will be all that much better as I'd have finally earned your trust." Maw adjusted his collar. "A perfect score."

"Is _that_ your end goal?" Shadow grimaced.

"No, no!" Maw put up his hands defensively. "I'm after what anyone else wants: companionship and intimacy. That's why I date in a whirlwind but only had three partners. Nobody held my interest long enough."

The rain began to subside. Shadow furrowed his brow and stared at Maw waiting for the truth.

The thylacine chuckled. "I mean, _yes_ , at first I wanted to root the hell out of you." Maw scratched his ear, "I thought you wanted a piece of my ass for yourself but as we know I was incorrect in that deduction."

He licked his lips. "I don't have an endgame with you, Shadow. I greatly enjoy being with you and I find you incredibly intelligent and captivating. You won my heart with the incredible way you navigated that maze. You're an extremely capable man and you kept me safe. I do truly owe you my life."

The hedgehog blinked.

"That and I know you'd knock my block off if I came at ya sideways." He drew his finger across his throat and winked. "I don't like it _that_ rough."

Shadow softened. "Alright," he snickered, "Don't get _too_ excited; I barely trust you."

"Hmm. Want to know a secret, Shadow?"

"I guess?"

"My whole name is Mawtthew."

" _What?_ " The hedgehog nearly choked on his tongue.

"If you ever call me _Mawtthew_ , I will stuff you in an old boot." He pointed. "I just go by Maw."

"Aw, I can't call you pookie?"

"Certainly not!"

"Shnookums? Poopsie?" The hedgehog teased. "Babe?"

"You can call me babe."

"You... can call me babe, too."

"Oh, that reminds me." Maw pulled his phone back out. He tapped away on it with his thumbs and brought up an app.

"If you want to communicate with me discreetly you should ask MARI for the proper apps and codes. It works on any phone; it's how we connect to the Egg Net."

"My phone was issued by _GUN_."

"Doesn't matter! It's all encrypted to Hell 'n' back. If it's a smart device it can connect to the Egg Net with this app. It's called _Hatch_. I'll make sure MARI gives you a boring account so you look like any other member of the militia."

"Alright." Shadow nodded.

"Also," Maw dragged the icon of his dating app into the trash bin and uninstalled it, "No more liaisons for me. I'm all yours until you tire of me."

"I… don't think I'd tire of you." Shadow admitted. "Maybe grow annoyed with but not _tire_."

"Flatterer." Maw smirked and put his phone away. "Rain's done. Let's finish our date."

"It's not a date!" Shadow insisted.

"It's totally a date." Maw popped on his helmet.

"Yeah, you're right." Shadow rolled his eyes. He slashed open a portal and mounted his bike.

Maw got into position and rested his head against Shadow's back. "Where to, babe?"

"Anywhere but here." Shadow revved the bike.

"I'll go where you go." The thylacine interlocked his fingers and settled in. A content, unseen smile took up his whole muzzle.

* * *

 **AN: special thanks to Konan who let me borrow their OCs DOLA and SERAFIN for this chapter!**


	92. Please Don't Leave Me

"Good gods!" Sheptilah stood outside her vine-covered hut with her staff in her hands.

A blue tulip-like plant with teeth inched forward and hissed at her.

"Bad girl!" Amy scolded it. "I've been calling her Audrey III. She doesn't eat meat, though. Just photosynthesizes like everything else in the garden."

The plant pulled back and audibly whimpered.

"I don't understand… where did this plant come from?" Eggman scratched his bald head.

"I'm pretty sure the magic of the hut combined with all the plants you sent her in apology months ago made… this." Amy gestured.

"Well… hello, Audrey." Sheptilah offered her hand. The plant sniffed it before licking her palm and purring.

"Well, okay then." Eggman exhaled. "This is fine. This is a totally normal, expected occurrence."

"She did try to bite off Sonic's tail, however." Amy clicked her tongue.

" _Good_ plant!" Eggman cooed. "Good plant! Go for the head."

"Ivo!" Sheptilah shook her head.

Eggman ignored her, making kissy noises at Audrey and scratching her 'chin'.

Sheptilah yawned behind her fist. "I'm going to have so much cleaning to do."

Audrey panted like an excited dog. She lifted her roots to show the door and reveal that the inside of the hut was clean and organized.

"I took care of all that!" Amy beamed.

Sheptilah stared slack-jawed at the pristine room. "Thank the gods my house responds to commands or I'd never find anything ever again… You did a great job keeping the place up, though, Amy."

The hedgehog beamed. "Sticks helped, too! Believe it or not, she knows a lot about magic."

Sheptilah got on her knee so she could hug Amy. The hedgehog rested her chin on the woman's shoulder and sighed contentedly.

"I missed you so much." Tilly squeezed her. "You're the best."

"Alright, alright!" Eggman pushed past them. "You are both so schmaltzy."

"I'm just in a really great mood!" The witch stood and twirled. "I don't know why, but I am!"

* * *

After hours of re-organizing her junk Sheptilah finally settled in for the night.

"Good night, honey." Ivo snuggled into bed with his wife.

With her arm draped over his torso she nuzzled his chest. "Good night, husband."

The moment of peace was disturbed by Audrey attempting to get in bed with them.

"No!" Eggman yelped. "Bad plant!"

"Audrey, you are an outside plant. You're too big." Tilly patted the bulb.

Audrey whined.

"Maybe we can move her to my garden tomorrow… she would be great at keeping Sonic away." Eggman sat up.

Audrey licked his face in excitement leaving him sopping wet with plant spit.

"Sweetheart?"

"Yes, honey?" Tilly frowned.

"We should go back to my lair for the night."

"I agree…" She dried him off with magic. "Poor thing, though. I don't wanna leave poor Audrey all alone." She rubbed the plant's chin.

"We'll move her to my garden, okay? She'll be happy there." He hopped out of the bed and put his clothes back on.

The couple meandered back to the lair, sleepily discussing whether or not they should move locations again.

There they found Maw and Shadow gorging on cheesy pizza slices while watching something on television with Orbot and Cubot even though it was three in the morning.

Eggman looked at the TV and then to Maw. "I thought you hated sci-fi movies." He squinted.

"Shadow has control over the remote," Maw blinked.

"Wait a minute…" Sheptilah paused. "You got pizza delivered here? At this hour? _How?_ "

The truth was they brought it back with them from California.

"I think you two are _exhausted._ " Shadow raised an eyebrow. "You haven't noticed that Maw is healed."

"Oh, yeah." Eggman scratched his head. "Interesting. You did that, Shadow?"

"Yes. The poor creature was suffering." Shadow smirked. " _Begged_ for help."

"I did not _beg;_ I asked politely." Maw took a hefty bite of his meat lovers pizza.

"Well, as long as you can get back to work. I'll arrange transport for you after I get some sleep…" Eggman yawned before walking off.

"What brings you back here?" Shadow offered his witch a slice of cheesy pizza.

Sheptilah took it and munched on a corner. "Long story involving a plant with teeth."

"Uh huh." The hedgehog shook his head.

"I'm glad you two are getting along so well," Sheptilah said with her mouth full. "I guess you have a lot in common?"

"We're close in age and have the same interest in science," Maw answered. "And he's procrastinating on going back to GUN."

"I don't feel like doing a ton of paperwork right now." Shadow shrugged. "Or getting chewed out by President Tower for having the audacity to not die."

She looked at the boys curiously as if she was piecing together a puzzle. "Do you mind if I watch the movie with you?"

"Not at all," Shadow scooched over to give her more space. "Mostly we are just making fun of it."

" _Bikini Babes From Planet Nine_." Maw pointed to the screen. "A deeply cerebral take on how feminism was a virulent scourge in the sixties and could only be fixed by metallic bathing suits."

"They really showed restraint not calling it planet sixty-nine." Shadow said. "This is just… terrible. I can see the boom mic in the corner."

"The women are cute…" Tilly giggled. "But that hair! They have to duck to enter a room."

* * *

Rising with the dawn, Sheptilah sat at the edge of the outcrop by the garden playing her harp. A sad song punctuated by soft humming drowned out by the crashing of the sea floated over the waves like a prayer.

"What's got you down?" Shadow asked.

She jumped, striking sour chords from fright. "Shadow… you scared me."

"Sorry. I felt sadness. What is wrong?" He frowned.

"Depressed. I feel like… I'm not doing well. Maw didn't want _me_ to heal him but he let you." She strummed absentmindedly. "Not that you are unqualified but… I thought he liked me. I guess he doesn't trust me after I made his jaw worse."

"He was on painkillers when you asked. When he asked _me_ to help him he was in agony because they wore off."

She looked at her toes and then up to the sparkling sea. A moment of silence passed only to be interrupted by the wail of seagulls flying overhead.

"It's more than that." She sighed. "It's the fact that I can't help Cassia. That I needed help against the tsunami. That the weird crystal got us out of the alien maze. I screwed up delicate plans the Egg Bosses had in place to keep peace." She pressed her fist over her heart. "That I didn't even know Rabisu was a separate entity in my own body. Something's _worse_ about me since Europa. Something is _wrong_ , Shadow."

"Nothing is wrong with you; I'd have noticed. We have one of the strongest cosmic bonds, remember?"

"I guess…" She rested her forehead against the soundbox. "I hate this. I was so happy yesterday and now I'm back to _this_."

Unsure of what to say, he bit his tongue. Suddenly, a flame erupted in his heart and he got an idea.

He rested his hand on her shoulder. She turned to him and he gently smiled. He hummed a few bars of a song.

"Can you copy that?" He hummed again.

She furrowed her brow and repeated the tune on the harp. "Like this?"

"Perfect." He turned her head so she faced the water. "Now fill in the blanks a bit with some strokes." He dragged a finger across the strings.

She did as directed.

" _Long afloat on shipless oceans…_ " He sang in a voice not unlike distant church bells. He was timid at first but grew in confidence.

She stared at him, wide-eyed and stunned at the beauty of it.

" _I did all my best to smile…_ " Shadow nodded at her to keep strumming.

" _'Til your singing eyes and fingers…_ "

" _Drew me loving to your isle…_ "

He held a hand out at the ocean and slowly traced it across the horizon.

" _And you sang: sail to me, sail to me, let me enfold you._ "

She applied flourishes between the notes he gave her to play.

" _Here I am… Here I am waiting to hold you..._ " The sea seemed to rise in response.

Millions of tiny, unseen eyes looked up at them from beneath the deep water.

" _Did I dream you dreamed about me? Were you here when I was forced out?_ " He made hundreds of glass-like butterflies rise from his palm in a burst of inspiration. Sheptilah's eyes followed them as they flew into the sun.

Maw, having felt a strange twinge in his chest, suddenly got the urge to walk outside the lair. He silently exited the building and heard the dulcet tones coming from the garden and followed the sound in an almost trancelike stupor.

" _Now my foolish boat is leaning… broken, lovelorn on your rocks…_ "

A familiar figure rose from the water like a spout. Thalassa appeared in a much smaller but still impressive form. Thalassa's body was proportionate to her head which was still large enough to eat a Mobian like a dumpling. Her many eyes now appeared as one single green and her face was more inviting. The stench that followed her was gone and her seemingly endless snake-like tail hung over the edge she sat on.

Shadow flinched at the sudden movement but did not stop. Thalassa reached up a finger so one of the butterflies could perch on it.

" _For you sing: 'touch me not, touch me not, come back tomorrow... Oh my heart, Oh my heart shies from the sorrow…'_ " He sang in a stronger voice as if the world would stop turning if he ceased.

Maw remembered that creature appearing in the tsunami to fight off the titan wiccaphage and how Shadow casually approached her. He took a step back.

 _He's fearless,_ Maw thought. _Who even_ is _Shadow?_

" _Well I'm as puzzled as the newborn child… I'm as riddled as the tide..._ " Shadow swallowed hard. He had never had an audience besides Maria and concentrated on not messing up his words. He clenched and lowered his fist, dispelling the butterflies.

Thalassa noticed the thylacine and beckoned him to come closer.

Maw shook his head and took another step back.

" _Should I stand amid the breakers? Or should I lie with death, my bride?_ " He continued.

" _Hear me sing, 'Swim to me, swim to me, let me enfold you... Here I am, here I am, waiting to hold you…'_ "

Shadow narrowed his eyes at Thalassa and turned. He seemed shocked at first but softened his expression.

"Hello." Maw said sheepishly.

"Maw…" Shadow's face remained stoic.

"A rare one!" Thalassa clapped her many-fingered hands together. She slithered around him. "Beautiful. Flawless. _Excellent_ specimen of a small thing. I love all small things but the rarity is special."

"Thank you?" Maw kept his arms close to his body and his tail pointed downward.

"Wait, you're speaking our language?" Shadow approached the being.

"Yes! The sea babies said I should try _sinking_ to your level." She chuckled. " _Sea?_ I made a joke. See as in sea!" She gestured to the water.

"What brought you here?" Tilly stood. "Did something happen?"

"You sang to me. I came when called. If you call to me, even through a puddle, I will usually answer." She slithered up to Sheptilah. "You play so beautifully. And you…" She turned to Shadow. "You sing so well. Do it more often."

Thalassa then turned to Sheptilah. "What's wrong, small thing?"

"Nothing, Your Majesty." She faked a smile. "Thank you for enjoying our music."

"Ma'am? What is your name?" Maw asked.

"I'm called Thalassa."

" _The sea goddess?_ Mother of Aphrodite? I thought… I mistook you for a simple monster."

"I am the 'mother' of all sea creatures." She shrugged. "Not quite sure who Aphrodite is."

"Aphrodite is the goddess of object love and beauty." Shadow nodded. "Thalassa is the queen and protector of the seas," he explained, "Many of the ancient religions are quite true to a point."

"I am as old as Mobius. I was born from the core of the planet releasing steam. I am billions of years old and will live as long as there is a sea." Thalassa leaned in.

"A little over four and a half billion years… old…" Maw was _stunned_. "You were alive when our moon was formed. You were the first living being on Mobius!"

"When I first lived, I was the size of a brine shrimp and I lived in a droplet of water." Thalassa nodded. "And I will likely be the last being to live on this planet."

" _And_ she is our _friend_." Shadow smirked.

"Yes!" The goddess nuzzled Shadow's fuzzy cheek with her damp one. He was slightly disgusted by her sliminess.

"That's incredible." The thylacine dared not blink.

"No, _small things_ are incredible. I am just a Thalassa." The goddess frowned. "You flicker in and out of life like sparks. You have left the planet but I cannot. I envy those who get to see the depths of other worlds - if I ever fully come out of the water the oceans will cease churning." She gestured to her tail.

"Nothing compares to Mobius." Shadow said. "Or our oceans. I was born in space and I remember… when I first stepped into the ocean I felt my soul rocked by its beauty and force."

"Without the sea there would be no life on this planet." Maw nodded. "We were all born from it. Don't envy the empty oceans of other worlds."

"I never want to leave Mobius again," Tilly sniffed, "Space is ugly and lonely."

"I do not wish to leave, either." Maw approached the empress.

"Small things are so wise. Your mortality grants you that." Thalassa laid on her side. "But you are also special small things. I can see it. The planet has been hurt many times but it will always recover. I'm confident you will all be okay and accomplish your mission."

"Thalassa?" Shadow said.

"I will miss you when you are gone… and you will go one day. I will not be able to join you in the afterlife for billions of years. By then, you'd have vanished from the Universe as entropy wears down. I will carry your memories with me through the tides… maybe that will be enough to keep you."

"Are you lonely?" Sheptilah knelt next to the goddess.

"Yes. The ocean is deep and wide, but eternal. Small things? Temporary, rising and falling with the tide and washed away at the shore like shellfish. I've seen mountains become sand."

Maw looked at Shadow and frowned, eyebrows slightly upturned.

"If it would cheer you up… Would you like me to play some more for you?" Sheptilah went back to her harp and sat in the built-in seat.

"Please do." Thalassa closed her eye.

* * *

 **"Song To The Siren" by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett (c) 1969**


	93. Tactile Sensation

Days passed with no events to speak of.

Shadow was past his eyeballs in paperwork. So much missed time at GUN meant he had binders of work to go through and fill out detailing his 'adventures' for posterity's sake. Nothing was digital and everything had to be done by hand with a pen because of course it was.

With buds shaped for furry ears he listened to the music MARI prepared for him months prior. The music was quite mixed but he found himself bobbing his head or tapping his tail to most of it.

Occasionally Shadow hummed to the music he recognized while he worked between sips of strong coffee. He chose his words with surgical precision when filling out the papers so as to not reveal anything sensitive that could compromise the strained balance between the organizations.

Naturally, he would leave out his _personal_ experiences with the Egg Boss. He lingered on the line asking for more details, wondering if he should even mention the Boss' weak jaw and motivations for being in the Empire.

By not revealing pertinent information he was actively lying to GUN and they would, sooner or later, find out and there would be _repercussions_. He rested his elbow on the desk and his cheek against his hand. He drummed his fingers while thinking.

 _His sexuality is irrelevant but his motivations for joining the Empire are_ not _. They already know I learned_ something _while being up there for the better part of the week. I have revealed information about the other Bosses that I have met and it would be suspicious to not say anything about Maw._

Shadow inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "Fine," he said to himself, "Fine."

Rouge keeps secrets from GUN; why can't he do the same? He wrote down the jaw malfunction and the required surgery to fix.

 _That should be enough._

He thought about the thylacine and his soft, inviting kisses. Decadent velvet fur you could pet... eyes like perfectly carved ametrine.

He remembered the pressure of his tight grip on Shadow's virgin hips and ached for that sensation again. He rested his blushing face on his arms and sighed.

 _Maybe it's the danger I'm attracted to. The bold, brazen danger of an Egg Boss who doesn't fear me. He likes me as I am. Maybe._

What mush! How could such a powerful and traumatized hedgehog be turned to goo? He'd let the thylacine do unspeakably erotic things to him and yet is still terrified of the idea of anyone knowing he was so _vulnerable_.

The repercussions of such a relationship going sour could result in Maw's execution. Sheptilah would _never_ allow that, of course, but Eggman might go behind her back and do it anyway. He would kill for family- after all, he threatened Thunderbolt in no uncertain terms.

 _And I'm his family._ Eggman may kill Maw anyway just for daring to touch his family when he should've been protecting it. _He clearly doesn't care much about the Tralius base, either._

Shadow feared he could be indefinitely held in prison for treason by GUN. He feared Tower coming down on him, Sheptilah and the Cabbot family for collusion. Rouge may be caught in the crossfire, too.

 _My actions have consequences._

Or it could all turn out well. It could all turn out to be wonderful and things will be okay.

"I can do this," he whispered to himself. "We can make it work."

* * *

He finished up another small stack before taking a break. He dragged himself and his phone to his bathroom and ran the water hot. After peeling off his gloves and kicking off his shoes he sunk into the water with his phone in hand.

His screen flashed the memo: YOUR EGG IS READY!

He opened the Hatch app to read his message:

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Thinking about you.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Are you busy?

Shadow returned the message.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** No, I'm taking a bath.

Maw responded back nearly instantly.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** A bath?

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** May I see?

Shadow blushed and shook his head.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** For god's sake

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You don't have to if you don't want to.

Shadow took a selfie of his somewhat flustered frown.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Here.

He sent the photo.

Maw saw it and smiled. "He's so cute…" He said to himself.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You are so cute!

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Your username is atrocious but you are cute!

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** MARI picked my name for me I had no say in the matter.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I'm not cute. Don't call me cute.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You are very adorable.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** This is how you make me feel when I see your picture.

Maw sent back a selfie of him grinning broadly. Shadow flushed harder and couldn't help but smile in return.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Now you're being cute.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I miss you right now.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I have a mountain of paperwork I'm putting off doing.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I'm doing the same thing, but not in the tub. I'm watching TV.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I have about 723 lab reports left to grade, essentially.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** So far none of my underlings made any mistakes in their work.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** What's on TV?

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Brain-numbing sitcoms.

Maw sent a photo of his hand resting on his groin.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** There's other things I'd rather do but I'm bored.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** To bad I cannot teleport to you and give you something to do.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Is that so?

Maw felt his pants grow tighter. He loved when his usually reserved _boyfriend_ acted a little frisky. He leaned back on his bed and stroked himself thinking of that lithe ebony body all over his. How sweet was his untouched lover's forbidden fruit. Oh, the things they could do together.

Maw then took a photo of his cock in hand and sent it to Shadow.

The hedgehog nearly dropped his phone in the water.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** See, I have this big problem…

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** You think really highly of yourself

Well, it wasn't _bad._

Shadow felt himself grow warmer and prickle between his legs. His dick emerged from the protective pouch and he winced a bit when it came in contact with the hot water.

 _God, what have you done, Maw? Again?_

Shadow eyed his bathroom door to make sure it was locked. He stared at the latch for a few moments just waiting for it to turn by itself. He looked back at his phone and groaned. He licked his lips and took hold of his own cock and stroked it with his free hand.

His breath hitched when the pleasure travelled from the seldom-touched organ to his brain like a bolt of white-hot lightning. Against his better judgement he took a somewhat blurry photo of what he was doing and sent it.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You're so hot.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Mmm.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I wish I had all that in my mouth right now.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Or yours in mine.

 _Why did I say that!?_ Shadow yelled at himself.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I bet you're really sensitive- driven wild by the smallest touches.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I'd love to find out where the most sensitive places are.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I'm not ticklish.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** So you say.

Maw chuckled knowing Shadow was teasing him.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I'd probably keep you tied down to something

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** While we have our fun

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I cannot trust an Egg Boss, you know? Gun protocol says

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** You must be disarmed before interrogation

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You'd do that for me?

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You'd cuff me?

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You're such a cop. A bad cop ?.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Well, I'd probably just use a zip tie we aren't issued handcuffs

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** We get those plastic zip ties which suck

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Because they're not that hard to break out of

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Do you not know how to sext or...?

Shadow frowned. Had he done something wrong? He was inexperienced, yes, but he didn't think he said something rude.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Apparently not.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** It's okay. You can learn.

They exchanged more photos. Shadow felt bolder and sent selfies of his flushed, pleasured face but instantly regretted it.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Can I call you?

Those four words made Shadow's blood turn to ice. He lowered the volume on his phone before replying.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Yeah

The quiet chime of a default ringtone pierced the silence.

"YOUR EGG IS HATCHING!" Appeared on the screen. Shadow tapped on the icon and brought the phone to his ear.

"What do you want?" Shadow sounded irritated.

There were a few heavy breaths before Maw spoke. "I thought this would be easier."

"Easier _how?_ "

"I am so tired of looking at your silly username." The thylacine chuckled. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

"Here I am."

"How funny... I do forget you are essentially a cop. Do they allow conjugal visits?"

"No, but I could make an exception." Shadow shifted positions. "Maybe let them hold you in my dorm."

"A dorm? What is it like?"

"It's a room with a small bed in it and a desk. There's a bathroom and that's about it."

"Aw, a pity you can't keep me there like a little pet." Maw purred. "I could keep you here, though."

"Hm?" Shadow's ears twitched.

"I could hold you… _hostage._ " Maw said heavily. "Keep you as my little pleasure toy for a while. I have a large loft apartment at my base. My bed is very big and plush."

"Are you kidding me?"

"What, you didn't like that? My apologies; should I switch scenarios? Or stop?"

"No, I mean, you'd be _my_ pleasure toy." Shadow whispered. "But I appreciate the concern. Keep going."

"Okay." The blonde chuckled. "Just making sure. _Well_ … since I'm _your_ toy I'd love for you to knock everything off my desk, push me onto it and ride me into the sunset like a mustang."

"Would you even allow me to mess up your _desk?_ " Shadow huffed.

"I'd be too swept up in your ass to care, Shadow." Maw moaned softly.

"I'd be very gentle with you, Maw." Shadow continued stroking himself, focusing on the head. "I don't want to shatter your pelvis. I'd have to hold you in place by the wrists to keep you from trying to get back to work."

"I can take it." Maw quickened his pace. "God, your moans are so hot."

Shadow was sure steam was pouring from his ears like a tea kettle. He tried to keep as quiet as possible. He bit his lip to keep from crying out in unfamiliar pleasure but nothing could stop his gasps and grunts.

"Maybe I'd…" Shadow caught his breath, "Maybe I'd hide under your desk and suck your cock while you attempted to work."

"Huh?" Maw groaned. "Mmm. Remind me to get a bigger desk you can fit under."

"Just imagine my deadly sharp teeth barely grazing your flesh with my tongue wrapped around you…"

"How long _is_ your tongue, anyway?"

"You'll find out soon." Shadow swallowed. "You could grip my ears when you feel you're close to orgasm. Just don't pull on my spines because that hurts."

"I don't want to hurt you, Shadow." Maw said breathlessly. "I just want to drive you mad with pleasure."

"You'd hold me by the wrists and keep me in place with your legs wrapped around my shoulders so I can't get away. That's my punishment for disturbing your work. All the time you're telling me what to do and I do it..."

 _When did I get this wild?_ Shadow thought to himself. _These horny words keep flying out of my mouth!_

Deep in the pit of his stomach Shadow felt something was going to happen. The tension in his was about to release in a strong way.

"Maw, I think…" Shadow got quiet.

That was enough to send him over the edge and he came hard. His thighs twitched with each convulsion. He leaned back and stared up at the plain white ceiling of his bathroom. His labored breaths became softer and slower after a few silent moments. He felt out of body, floating away like a soap bubble.

"Shadow?" Maw said with growing concern. "Shadow?"

"I'm here." He was grounded again.

"I thought the call cut out for a minute; or that you got busted."

"No, I just… came, that's all."

"Oh, you're a quiet one. Listen to this..." Maw allowed himself to come. He was significantly more vocal about his pleasures and able to express them in the safety of his apartment.

"You sound like a… like a… a hyena." Shadow snickered. "Oh, my God."

"Shut up!" Maw huffed. "Bully."

"I have not _begun_ to bully you, Maw." Shadow teased. "I'm going to make it a point to have you orgasm more often."

"A cruel but fair price to pay." Maw turned off the tv and took off his clothes. "I have to get cleaned up now but I feel better."

"Me too…" Shadow pulled up the drain plug. The bath water had gotten cold so he stepped out and grabbed a towel. "I am glad that my body works like anyone else's."

"How do you mean?" Maw struggled to get his shoe off one-handed and fell face-first onto his bed. "Oof!"

"I mean I was afraid my dick would shoot acid or something," Shadow looked at himself in the mirror. "You okay over there?"

"Nearly killed myself taking off my trainers..."

"I have to help you get naked, too?" Shadow rolled his eyes. "Hey, delete those photos I sent you."

"Already did!" Maw grunted. He finally got his other shoe off and had no difficulty removing his pants. "Why would you think you would have acid in your balls? You don't have acid anywhere else, right?"

"Just my stomach like you do."

"There you go. I'm not afraid you'll hurt me, Shadow. You have great power, yes, but that doesn't mean you are unsafe to be around. Doctor Robotnik did _not_ build you that way."

"Huh?" Shadow walked into his dorm and put on clean socks.

"I read up on your files MARI gave me and _only_ me. You were clearly crafted from love. You're not this killer tool of war everyone else in the Empire seems to think of you as. Gerald specifically stated that in his private notes you were meant to bring love and peace."

"You researched me? When?"

"MARI sent me the files of her own accord a few days ago."

"Oh."

"Anyway, I don't think Doctor Robotnik would have trusted you around his granddaughter if you spat acid, you know?" Maw trotted to his shower. "You're just a person like anyone else. I mean, to be fair, you _could_ poke someone's eyes out with your spikes but that's about it."

Shadow snickered. "I have not yet poked anyone in the eye."

"See?" Maw ran the water. "I gotta go. I had fun." He tested the temperature of with his elbow.

"That busy?" Shadow put on fresh gloves.

"I have a lot of work to finish up. I'll talk to you soon, okay? G'bye, babe."

"Bye, babe." Shadow frowned. He ended the call and flopped onto his bed. He laid there for a minute before grinning from ear-to-ear.

 _I like having a boyfriend_. He thought. He looked over at the paperwork he had to finish and rolled over to face the wall. _I do not like having homework._

* * *

 **Chazzy directed this chapter! Thanks again, dude!**


	94. Bat Out Of Hell

Shadow rolled over on his bed and stared at his lock screen. The plain gray background made the icons stand out, torturing him all the more as he waited to receive another notification from Maw.

None came. Not even a good night message.

 _When did I become so needy?_

He turned his phone over and hugged his pillow, imagining it was his boyfriend. It really began to sink in how lonely his life was and how badly he had needed the socialization of family and friends.

He had trouble sleeping alone. He had become accustomed to sharing a bed and dreams with his sister. You can do anything in your lucid dreams. It's so easy to keep the nightmares at bay when you have a plane you can do anything with to make yourself calm and happy.

It's so easy to find comfort from the terrors that slip through when your sibling is there to stroke your cheek and mumble lullabies until you fall back asleep in the warmth of their arms.

It's so easy to remember how life was on the ARK with Maria, playing records well after bedtime and reading books under the blankets with a flashlight on tough nights when the bad dreams kept coming.

It's so easy when you're not alone.

But was he moving too fast? The familiar ache of regret and doubt in himself creeped into the back of his mind.

If Maw could make him suddenly feel so strange and lewd what else was he capable of getting swept up into without thinking?

 _Shit_. _I've made a mistake._

He sat up, combed his fingers through his quills and put on his shoes. He then took his phone with him and walked to Rouge's dorm. He hesitated before softly knocking on her door.

"Who is it?" Her sing-song voice called.

"Shadow." He responded automatically.

"Come on in!" Rouge chirped.

Shadow entered to find the bat was brushing her hair and wearing bright pink sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt.

"What's up?" She put her brush down and turned to him with a smile. She noticed his demeanor and frowned.

Shadow locked the door behind him and sat on her bed, willingly sinking into it. He was silent for a moment before sighing. "What I'm about to say must absolutely stay between us."

"I'd die before spilling your secrets." She sat beside him. "You know you can trust me."

"I'm serious."

" _Shadow_ ," she was hurt, "I am being serious. Come on. What's wrong?"

"I started a relationship with someone." He shut his eyes and hoped the bed would swallow him up.

"Oh?" She perked up.

"You don't know them." He purposefully avoided gendered pronouns. "You may soon but you don't know them _now_."

"When did this happen?"

"About a month ago."

Rouge laid on her side and flicked Shadow's ear. "They must be hot stuff if they got _your_ attention."

"You don't know the half of it." Shadow swatted away her hand. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"You've only known them a month. This is your first romantic relationship, right?"

"Yes."

"So what do you think you're doing wrong?" She sat up and crossed her legs.

Shadow grabbed a pillow and covered his face with it. "I think things are going too fast."

"Oh, no. Don't tell me you've already started calling each other dumb pet names like _schmoopie_." Her cheeks tinged pink with a knowing blush.

"Rouge, I'm trying to be serious."

"I'm sorry; just trying to make things a little less heavy. So what happened then? Stop beating around the bush."

"We had phone sex, I think." He gripped the pillow and pressed it into his face like he was trying to suffocate himself.

Rouge nearly choked on her own tongue. She coughed and took a deep, wheezy breath.

His body slightly trembled from her reaction and wished he never said anything.

"Well, that may indeed be too fast for _you_." She scratched her ear. "So tell them you want to slow down?"

"This person makes me so… I don't know the word. I get caught up in my feelings and I act stupid. I don't want to keep acting so foolish and jump into the deep end."

"Well, you're gonna hate me for this but…" She bit her lip. "You should talk to Sonic."

"Why would I talk to _him_?"

"Shadow, have you ever known _me_ to date anyone?"

"Not since I met you."

"I haven't dated anyone because I'm not interested in that right now. My treasures remain unplundered… you know what I mean?" She turned her head away but felt it turn deep red with embarrassment.

He lifted a corner of the pillow from his face and looked at her with a soft but curious expression.

"I don't have the experience to guide you but ultimately I think you should talk it out with your partner. That's the foundation of any good relationship, romantic or not. _Communication_."

"So why should I talk to _Sonic?_ "

She turned to Shadow and tilted her head. "Think about it. He's dated many, many girls."

Shadow's face twisted up like he tasted something sour and put the pillow back on his face. "I'm not talking to _him_ about anything. He'll blab to his stupid friends and I'll never hear the end of it."

"He'd never do that. Besides, he knows I'd kill him if he broke your trust." Rouge's wings twitched.

"Rouge?"

"Yes?"

"I'm dating another man."

"Oh! That's why you're so… _you_ right now. Well, Sonic won't care. No one will care. It's the same regardless of your partner's gender."

"That's not the issue. The other man is an Egg Boss."

Rouge's mouth became a tight line. She spoke in a grave and quiet voice from then on. "Shadow, you _can't_."

He gripped the pillow.

"Tower would… he'd… Boris _can't_ protect you from what would come down on you for that. Shadow, that's _treason_. Disloyalty is a charge you cannot bounce back from."

Treason. The word made his mouth taste like bile. _My very existence is treason,_ he thought.

"If that were true then my sister would be held for the same charge." Shadow furrowed his brow.

"They don't _know_ she's married to him yet."

"Yes, but GUN knows there's a relationship there."

"And you think she's going to get away with all that after the wiccaphages are finished off? Tower is probably planning to hold you _and_ the witch hostage until Eggman surrenders." Rouge's eyes stung. "Shadow, you can't be with an Egg Boss. It's too dangerous."

The hedgehog's turmoil hit an all-time high.

"Maybe if you twist it like you're trying to get him to join GUN you could get away with it..." Rouge muttered to herself.

"I asked him many times and he refuses. He cannot betray Eggman or he'll be executed with the bomb installed in his head and everyone who works for Maw will lose their protections."

Shadow bit his tongue. His blood ran cold when he realized he let the name of his lover slip.

"The thylacine." Rouge shook her head. "Of course."

"Now you see why I am having difficulty." Shadow sat up, still cradling the pillow.

"You've only been dating him for a month, right? It's not too far that you can't just break up with him but…" Rouge bit her thumbnail. "If he makes you happy…"

"He's thoughtful and understands boundaries and he makes me feel _normal_."

"Are you sure he's not just manipulating you under Eggman's orders?" Rouge pouted.

"Certainly not!" Shadow barked. "He's not a _predator_."

"I wasn't implying…" The bat frowned. "I'm sorry."

Shadow looked away and sighed. "What have I gotten myself into?"

Rouge tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. "If you feel that strongly about this guy then things will work out, come Hell or high water. And you've already been through both, so it should be a breeze, right?" She smiled uneasily.

He shrugged her hand away.

"Shadow, I love you very much. You're my best and most reliable friend. I'll do what I can to protect you but I am not sure this romance is a good idea."

"I'm not so sure either but I can't help how I feel. Something about him resonates in me."

"You definitely need to slow down, then. Slow way, way down." She paused before hugging him.

"Follow your heart. I can't tell you not to do something. I trust you know what you're doing."

"For once I _don't_ know what I'm doing."

"Well, whatever. Your heart hasn't been wrong yet."

Shadow's phone beeped. He picked it up and looked at the screen.

YOUR EGG IS READY.

"Your boyfriend?" Rouge grinned playfully.

"Yeah." He opened the message without thinking.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I forgot to tell you good night!

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I was so busy with work, sorry about that.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** So… good night, Shadow! Sweet dreams!

Rouge peeped at the text.

"He _does_ genuinely seem sweet…" Rouge brushed her hair behind her ear. "And he wouldn't be the _first_ nice Egg Boss, either. The pronghorn sisters are sweet when they want to be."

Shadow felt relief wash over him and warmth grow in his chest. A slight smile spread across his muzzle as he quickly typed a reply back.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Good night, Maw.

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Talk to you later.

"So... phone sex, huh? I hope it wasn't on your GUN-issued phone." Rouge shook her head.

"It's an encrypted app for the EggNet. It's safe enough. The… _incident…_ happened by accident. I assure you it won't happen again. It's too embarrassing."

"Do you plan on making love with him?"

" _Making love_ , Rouge?" Shadow's ears twitched.

"It's less crude than asking if you're gonna fuck his ass."

His cheeks felt hot and prickly as the blood rushed to them. "Not actively." He refused to make eye-contact with Rouge. " _Maybe_."

"Talk to Sonic." Rouge patted his back. "You feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Then get going! I gotta get my beauty sleep!"

Shadow barely got to his room before Apollo caught him at the door. The fox's face was serious and held his rifle in the 'ready' position with his finger off the trigger.

"Sir? President Tower wants to see you."

"Right now?" Shadow asked without turning around, his face frozen in a stiff expression to hide his quiet terror.

"Yes, right now; and he's _furious_."

* * *

Shadow was escorted by Apollo to Tower's office. The president sat in his chair facing the window that overlooked the tumultuous ocean that beat against the mountain the fortress sat upon.

He turned in his chair to see the hedgehog standing with his arms crossed and a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"Shadow."

"Yes, sir?"

"Explain yourself."

"What have I done wrong, sir?" He felt the back of his neck prickle.

"Where do I begin? You keep leaving for long periods without approval from me or your supervisor Cabbot. You are taking too long to complete your reports and you are shirking your duties here."

"With all due respect, President Tower, I _am_ working. It is not as if I am out on vacation when I am tasked to protect my sister."

"I wouldn't know seeing as how you have _not_ given me your reports yet."

"I am working to complete them with as much detail as possible, sir. Much has happened in that week orbiting Mobius."

"I'm _sure_."

Shadow narrowed his eyes. _How much does he know?_

"When were you going to tell us that your 'sister' married Eggman?" Abraham slammed his fist on the table causing the stationery to rattle.

Shadow did not flinch. Apollo tightened his grip on his rifle.

"It's _November_ , Shadow. They were married in _July_."

"Sir-"

" _No_ , Shadow." Abraham stood. "This is unlike you to behave this way. You're going soft and undisciplined and we will rectify this _immediately_."

" _Rectify?_ "

"You are on probation. If you so much as forget to wash your hands after using the bathroom in the next month it will be your ass in a sling and we will impose more serious punishment for you _and_ your 'sister' will be required to stay at the fortress at all times. This is not a game anymore. This is absolutely unacceptable."

Shadow kept silent.

"I am not going to let you continue to disrespect your role here as an agent and put the lives of others at risk because your head is in the clouds. I've tolerated just about enough of this nonsense. Had you been anyone else you would have already been excused from duty for withholding vital intel about an enemy from your superiors."

 _Excused from duty, he says,_ Shadow thought. _Nobody is_ excused _, here. My sister is not the enemy, either._

"Remember what we do with traitors, Shadow. Remember that you are expendable and I will _not_ hesitate to protect the many over the few. Remember that the witch is _allowed_ to walk freely on conditions she's already violated. Remember that you are immortal but you are _not_ bulletproof."

Apollo swallowed hard.

The lines in his face became deeper and more craggy the angrier Tower became. His furrowed brows twitched with quiet rage.

"Do not forget your place. You are to follow orders or face repercussions."

Shadow looked at the human emotionlessly.

"Do you _understand_ , Agent Shadow?"

"Yes, sir."

"Go to your dorm and finish your reports immediately."

"Yes, sir." Shadow maintained the air of superiority in his gait despite having just been scolded like a child. He turned and waited for Apollo to step away from the door before he left.

"Follow him." Tower instructed of the fox. "Bring me his reports personally."

Apollo nodded and escorted Shadow back to his room. Shadow closed and locked his door in the fox's face. The hedgehog then pulled out his bag from under the bed and started packing his things.

The chao plush Cream had given him was the first to be packed followed by a bag of his lemon candies, his clothing, glock and loaded magazines.

He shattered his tablet over his knee, tore apart his laptop like paper and crushed his phone under his shoe. He pushed the reports into the trash bin and took it to the bathroom along with the remains of his electronics. He let it fill with water so the materials would become illegible and unrecoverable.

"Shadow?" Apollo heard the ruckus but assumed the hedgehog was just letting off steam by shoving furniture.

With a marker he wrote the words I QUIT in big, bold letters on his door.

He teleported to Rouge's room.

"Rouge." He whispered.

"No, I'm sleeping." She rolled over in her bed.

"Rouge, wake up."

"What?"

"I'm quitting GUN and I'm taking the Chaos Emeralds. I've had enough."

"What!?" She sat up.

"Shh. You should probably leave, too. For your own safety."

Rouge hopped out of bed and grabbed a bag. "Where are you going?"

"Eggman's. Tower in no uncertain terms threatened my and my sister's life just now so I'm getting out of here." Shadow helped Rouge pack.

"Did he find out about…?" The bat grabbed her weapons and stuffed those into her bag, too.

"No, and now I know that if he does he's going to put me back in stasis for God knows how long. He did, however, find out about the marriage."

"Oh, _great_."

"I'm just warning you. I'm also going to release the Egg Army people they arrested a year ago but did nothing with. At this point it's a clear violation of their rights to hold them without trial or conviction."

"Have you lost your _mind?_ " She pulled on her sneakers. She then took the sim card out of her phone and tucked it into her sock.

"No. I'm no bootlicker. I know what I'm doing, Rouge. You don't have to come with me but you _have_ to get out of here."

"I _am_ going with you. I going to make sure you don't get yourself killed." She put on her shoulder bag. "Wait, what about Omega and Hope?"

"It may be safer if they come too, then. Meet me in the garage as soon as possible." Shadow vanished.

"Why is he so damn impulsive?" Rouge muttered to herself. "What a pain in my wings."

He slung his bag over his shoulder and teleported to the unguarded vault that contained the Chaos Emeralds and took them all. He then spirited to the cells where the Egg Army members from Thunderbolt's first base were arrested and slashed a portal to the Seaside Island's lair. Seeing that it was sparsely attended he quickly and harmlessly dispatched the security guards.

"You've been granted a reprieve. Go quietly." He said as he let them out. _Thank God GUN is more bureaucracy than military at the moment or I'd have been shot at by now_ , he thought to himself.

When the last of them disappeared he closed the portal behind them and hurried to the garage to get Dark Rider. Omega came lumbering though with Hope in one arm and Rouge in the other.

"I am not built for stealth," he said to Shadow, "You should know this by now, meatbags."

The hedgehog opened a large enough portal to fit the robot and ushered them through.

The sound of many heavy footsteps followed him as he mounted his bike.

"Stop him!" One voice said. "Don't let him get away!"

"Apprehend him but don't shoot!" Another called.

Shadow revved his bike and disappeared into the portal leaving behind nothing but tread marks.

* * *

"Incoming call from Maw." MARI chirped.

"Yes?" Eggman brought up Maw's image on the computer screen in his office.

"Greetings, Lord Eggman. I have good news."

"Yes?"

"We have made substantial progress in our mining program. We've found a plentiful gold vein."

"Wonderful!" He clapped his hands together. "Finally!"

"Sir?" MARI said.

"What now?"

"There's a _lot_ of people outside looking for you." The robot brought up the camera to show many people in GUN prison clothes standing around.

"Is that… _Omega?_ " Eggman took off his glasses.

"Yes. Hope and the rest of Team Dark are present as well."

"Sheptilah!" He called for his wife. "Maw, stay on the line."

Tilly came into the room with her staff in hand. "What now? Is Cubot stuck in the vent again?"

"Go find out what your idiot brother is doing…" He pointed to the screen.

Before she could react Shadow entered the office and held out the Chaos Emeralds. "I've taken matters into my own hands. I am no longer associated with GUN and I have freed your wrongfully held people."

" _What?_ " Maw said. "What have you done?"

"Shadow, that is an act of _treason_." Eggman's mouth hung open. "I am proud of you!"

"It is an act of _justice_." Shadow walked up to his sister. "Tower has threatened the life of my sister and myself when he found out about the marriage."

" _Damn it._ " Eggman put his glasses back on.

"He also expressed that he wants to hold Sheptilah under arrest. He keeps getting in the way of my job protecting this planet and that is not why I agreed to join GUN in the first place. The only treason committed here is by Abraham."

The Chaos Emeralds crackled in response to being so close to the witch.

Rouge entered the room with a very angry Hope in tow.

"It was unsafe for us to stay behind." Rouge explained.

"They're going to come here and bomb the place for the Emeralds, Shadow," Eggman said between clenched teeth, " _Because I now have all seven in my house._ "

"No, they won't." Shadow cradled the temperamental gems. "I know that they have no jurisdiction in this nation. Tower is too much of a stickler to bypass that kind of international law."

"They will do what they have to to get the Emeralds back." Sheptilah backed away from the stones. "We'll have to move immediately."

"Come to Downunda." Maw interrupted. "Nobody but us knows about this base. We also lay on Aboriginal territory and GUN would _never_ cross those lines even if they did find you."

Shadow shot him a knowing look.

"That could work. Do you have room for a few dozen extra people?" Eggman asked the thylacine.

"Yes, we do." Maw nodded. "We will need more supplies to support the influx but we do have the space."

"MARI, prepare a freighter immediately." Eggman turned to his wife. "I'm sorry that we have to move again."

"I'm used to it." She maintained a death grip on her staff.

 _Shadow, what have you done?_


	95. Come A Little Bit Closer

"Go, go, go." Eggman instructed the troops. "Into the freighter."

Some of them were quite confused by his demands. Most had a tentative grasp of English while only fluently speaking Spanish or Portuguese. The handful that understood English translated on behalf of the exasperated Doctor.

Back at her hut Sheptilah hurriedly threw things onto her bed. Audrey curiously watched her work and occasionally sniffed the items but did not lick them.

"I'm going to _kill_ Shadow. I swear to the gods." She muttered to herself. "Ugh. What do you even need in Tralius?" She laid a quilt into the bottom to use as cushioning with half of it hanging out of the trunk. "Doesn't he know only _I_ get to make the stupid rushed decisions?"

Audrey nodded in agreement. Scourge appeared beside the plant.

"I'm gonna throw that hedgehog in a box and throw that box into a bigger box and put _that_ box in a vault. In that vault is going to be a hundred armed men and they are going to be in their _own_ boxes-"

"I take it you are upset with me." Shadow walked into the hut.

"Oh, you don't even _know_." She pulled on the blue sweater Andrea made. "I am _this_ close to putting you in a leash."

" _On_ a leash." Scourge corrected her. "It's _on_ a leash."

"But that doesn't make sense. You put your head in a leash."

"The head goes in a _collar-_ " Scourge replied.

" _Focus._ " Shadow spat. "I know what I'm doing. Abraham is a coward and will not attack us."

"Ah, shut _up_ . She's mostly mad at _herself_ , you cherry Coke chuckle-fuck. Some fuckin' familiar you are, you dingus." Scourge smirked at the woman. "Isn't that right, babygirl?"

She threw a pillow at the ghoul which went right through him. Audrey picked it up and placed it back on the bed, smoothing it down with a leaf.

"She's angry 'cuz her impulsive act of getting married caused this." Scourge shrugged.

Shadow sat on the bed. "I supported the marriage. I _still_ support it. It isn't as if you pulled the rug out from under me, Ti-ti. This was going to happen sooner or later." He looked up at her.

"He's under pressure to protect the planet." She folded over the quilt on the packed items and closed the trunk with a click. "And he hates Eggman and I. Nothing ever comes easy for us."

"Never has, never will." Shadow fluffed his spines. "But I think you will like Downunda. The outback is like your desert but it's bigger. While we're out there I can better train you in hand-to-hand combat."

"And they got kangaroos!" Scourge pushed his head through Shadow's stomach. "They're giant rats with big feet."

" _Excuse_ _me_." Shadow looked down and raised his brow. "Get out of my stomach."

"Get your stomach out of my head!"

Tilly giggled, breaking the tension. The ghost grinned with self-satisfaction.

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I'm just… I don't want to go to Tralius. I want to stay here on the island for ten whole minutes before having to leave again. This is my _home_."

"We'll come back, Ti-ti."

"I promised I'd help Amy find her parents. She's feeling neglected because I haven't been here to spend time with her."

"Oh." Shadow frowned.

"Duh, bring pinkie with you to Downunda." Scourge floated up beside the witch.

"I guess I could ask her…" Tilly sat beside Shadow and put her arm around him.

* * *

Everyone was seated in rows like a school bus but more comfortable and with seat belts. The freighter had not yet taken off and

"Road trip!" Amy cheered. "Move over, Silver." She tried to squeeze in with her oversized backpack stuffed so full the seams bulged.

Silver, still carrying only his shoulder bag with the notebook in it barely ducked in time and got his ear grazed for his troubles.

Instead of sitting with Eggman in the cockpit Sheptilah instead sat with the hedgehogs, Rouge and Hope. Omega found space in the storage lockup and waited very patiently for a reason to blow it to smithereens.

Sheptilah sat beside Shadow, holding his hand.

 _I am nervous_. She thought to him.

 _About?_

 _I am nervous about Tralius. Something about Maw._

 _I thought you liked him, Ti-ti?_

 _I do but there is something… off. I don't know. He feels familiar but in a weird way._

Shadow raised his brow and l squinted at her.

"Dude." Scourge popped in. "Her phone. That's GUN shit, right?"

Shadow huffed. "It is."

"Yeah. Disable that shit before they track where we're going."

"Right." Shadow said, taking the phone. He popped out the memory card and slipped it into his glove. He then removed the sim card and crushed it between his fingers.

Tilly frowned.

"Don't worry, Ti-ti; all your photos are still on the other card in my glove." The dark hedgehog grinned.

Silver leaned in and whispered to Amy. "Aren't you gonna miss Sonic?"

"Yeah, but I'll be too busy to miss him much. I've got a lot of studying to do and a lot of cool things to collect." Amy smoothed down her spines after shoving her backpack under her seat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." Eggman announced over the PA. "We're taking off now so remain seated unless you want to be jostled around and possibly break your skull open."

The ship rumbled before the passengers all felt the sensation of free-falling and then being forced back into their seat.

"Is he driving with his feet?" Tilly huffed. "I swear." Her flesh broke out in goosebumps. For a split second she thought they were hit by a missile.

Eggman engaged the cloaking device to hide his ship from any spying GUN drones and they arrived at Downunda without incident.

* * *

The sun was breaking over the flat terrain of the outback, turning a dark purple sky yellow and red. The air was chilly but not frigid.

Maw stood at the front gate of the base looking as pristine as usual. The thylacine was flanked by two armed mooks, both of which spoke Portuguese. The guards greeted the Soumercian troops as they left the ship and translated instructions for them at Maw's behest.

"Lord and Lady Eggman," Maw bowed politely, "And Shadow- I bid you welcome to Tralius."

"We have some special guests." Eggman said. He pointed out every person as he named them off. "Amy Rose, my wife's apprentice. Rouge, Shadow's partner agent. This is Hope, my niece. You already know Silver."

"Welcome to my base." Maw nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you all."

"Hi, sugar." Rouge waved her fingers. Amy looked around curiously, quite interested in the terrain.

Hope looked away, quite angry. Omega jumped from the ship and landed with a loud thud. He lumbered over to Shadow.

"Who is this magnificent robot?" Maw looked up at the automaton.

"That is Omega." Sheptilah answered, feeling queasy.

"You are to treat these guests with the utmost respect." Eggman said. "Keep them comfortable and cared for."

Maw nodded, understanding the established code for 'don't let them out of your sight.' He furrowed his brow at the witch. "Sheptilah?"

"Yes, Maw?"

"Are you alright? You look... unwell."

"I'm fine, I just feel uncomfortable." She pushed her hair behind her ear.

"Why don't I show you to the master bedroom, dear?" Eggman put his arm around her shoulder and led her inside.

"She is quite upset about everything." Shadow said to Maw.

"She isn't the only one." Hope adjusted her bag.

A small group of little dogs came trotting up to them, their backsides wagging.

"Oh my gosh!" Silver squealed. "Beans! And Beans' beans!" He knelt down to pet them. "I missed you! What are you doing out here?"

"We use them to herd our cattle." Maw grinned. "I think Mordred was happy to be rid of them because a certain white hedgehog _accidentally_ trained them to beg for treats."

"I regret nothing!" He nuzzled some puppies.

"You should all come inside. I'm preparing a feast for tonight." Maw gestured to the gate. He turned, tail swishing back and forth as he walked. The dogs followed him and Silver followed the dogs.

Rouge shot Shadow a knowing smile before joining the group. Shadow lingered at the vestibule for a moment before going in.

* * *

The guest suites were luxurious and fit for any jetsetter. Each room had two large beds, a desk, kitchenette and its own bathroom. Tall, open windows granted them a gorgeous view of the outback. Hope was given her own room but opted to stay with Rouge. Amy and Omega instead.

On each bed was a small bag labelled with their names. Inside of it contained luxury toiletries, a new phone and laptop and a change of clothes. The clothes were made to fit each individual Mobian and Hope. Sealed packages of generic underwear, socks and a pair of sweatpants were included.

The bat flopped back on the soft bed and sighed. "Okay, this is _really_ nice."

Hope sat on a corner and sunk in.

"I am unimpressed with the outlet sizes." Omega chirped. "I require beefier plugs to charge."

"I'll find you a converter." The thylacine said, making mental note.

Silver and Shadow were each given their own spaces. Of course, Beans followed the white hedgehog everywhere he went.

Shadow was alone in the hallway with his boyfriend.

"Arabica." Maw called. "Here, girl." He bent down, patting his knees.

The puppy hesitantly broke from the group and went up to her master, tiny tail wagging. Maw gingerly picked up the dog and handed it to Shadow.

"Take this to your sister. Mordred says this one was her favorite. She's old enough to be away from her mother and has already been weaned. This may make the transition for your sister easier."

"I'm not so sure another responsibility is such a good idea." Shadow took the dog anyway and cradled her in his arms.

"I don't think she's an ordinary corgi." Maw rubbed the top of her head. "The moon-shaped blaze is suspicious."

"Oh, great. Another familiar, huh?" Shadow muttered to the puppy. "Are you here to replace me? You here to take my job?"

Arabica curiously sniffed Shadow's glove before play-biting his finger.

"Ooh, she's fighting you. A brawler!"

"I'm down for the count. Now you have to save us all, little dog." Shadow scratched behind her ear.

Maw looked on, smiling.

"Look out." Orbot said, carrying the luggage. "Delivery!" He put a bag down before knocking on Rouge's door.

"I'll show you to the master suite." Maw motioned for Shadow to follow him.

"I don't want to see your room right now." Shadow whispered.

"What? No, no. This is where Mrs. Eggman is staying so you know where to find her." They traveled up a long hallway before ascending stairs. Maw cornered his boyfriend in the stairwell and kissed him.

Shadow allowed this but turned away so Arabica wouldn't get squished in the embrace.

"Did you do this so you could be with me?" Maw whispered in his ear. "Is that why you abandoned GUN?"

"No. They threatened my sister's life; I already told you."

The thylacine's shoulders dropped and he sighed with relief. "Thank God. I thought you made a rash decision because of me. I don't want to be the reason you become careless."

"Oh, please." Shadow rolled his eyes. "You think too highly of yourself. Come on, I want to see my sister. You can play grab-ass with me later."

"Is that a promise?"

"It's a threat." Shadow walked away, chuckling.

"Well, I like where this is going." Maw grinned and followed close behind.

"You certainly arranged a first-class treatment for everyone. The clothing and toiletries are a very thoughtful touch."

"It's the least I can do. I know what it's like being homeless." The blonde went ahead of Shadow. "This is the floor that has my room and the master bedroom. My room faces west while Lord Eggman's faces east. He likes to rise with the sun, as I'm sure you know. Try not to get the rooms mixed up when you're lookin' for a little fun, okay?" Maw snickered. "His has his logo but my door is plain."

Shadow pouted. "How dumb do you think I am?"

"Shh, this is the door." Maw knocked. "Lord and Lady Eggman?"

"Come in." Sheptilah called.

The room was tastefully decorated with genuine Aboriginal art and artifacts. White walls bathed in sunlight made the space glow.

"We have another gift for you, My Lady." Maw gestured to Shadow.

"Aw, you're giving me a cute little black hedgehog? Thank you, but I already have one." She teased.

"I'm not cute." Shadow frowned.

"You are _super_ cute and you need to get over it. Isn't he adorable, Ivo?" She looked over her shoulder at her husband.

"I mean, he's not _horrendous_." Eggman shrugged. "Looks a little too much like Sonic for my taste."

"I have the cutest brother in the world and anyone who says otherwise is a liar, right Maw?" Tilly winked.

Maw's ears twitched, wondering how much she knew. He raised an eyebrow and smirked, flashing a fang. "I only have a sister, so I have no point of reference."

"Aha, so _you_ are the cute brother." Tilly joked.

"Leave Maw alone," Eggman nudged his wife, "Mordred gave the pups to you, huh?"

"Yes, sir. They are a welcome delight. Arabica here is the best behaved of the bunch. I figured our Empress would enjoy her company."

Tilly took the puppy from Shadow's hands and nuzzled her. "Thank you, Maw. This is very nice."

The dog jumped up and licked Sheptilah's chin.

Eggman opened his mouth to say something only to have Maw interrupt.

"They are already housebroken, sir." The thylacine answered.

"Good." Eggman patted the dog's head. "I got work to do. You should get back to whatever it is you do here."

"I'm preparing a sumptuous feast in your honor tonight." Maw pressed his hands together. "It will be lovely and there will be special vegetarian dishes for our Empress."

"Then get going!" Eggman ushered the two Mobians out, slamming the door behind them.

"I guess you're helping me, cutie." Maw teased.

"I guess so." Shadow rolled his eyes.

* * *

Maw escorted Shadow out behind the base where they kept a sensible farm. A few cows, sheep and horses grazed from within a wooden fence. Chickens were kept in their own pen. An older corgi kept close watch on the Mobians as they approached his doghouse but did not get up from his cushion.

"You ever kill a chicken before, Shadow?" Maw went over to a neatly-kept shack. He pulled open the door to reveal a pristine workplace for a butcher. Different tools and utensils were hung by a large magnet on the wall. Maw pulled on a fresh pair of rubber gloves and a cloth apron.

"No."

"Well, would you like to?"

"I would prefer not to, no."

"I understand." Maw grinned sweetly. "If you don't want to, you don't have to stay."

"I am alright with watching you prepare our food." Shadow followed Maw with his eyes as the thylacine went into the pen holding the chicken coop.

His tail swished back and forth as he selected a chicken. He picked it up by the feet and walked it past Shadow. The hedgehog crossed his arms and looked down, frowning.

The white chicken clucked quietly, flapping her wings occasionally but was not alarmed in the slightest. Maw hesitated.

He watched his lover stare intently at the toes of his skates. The thylacine's ears drooped for a moment. He held the chicken up and looked her in the eye. "Today is your lucky day, missy."

He righted the bird in his arms and carried her back to the coop. He took off his gloves and apron, putting them both away before closing the door to the shed. "I got some in the fridge; Lord Eggman won't know the difference."

The corner of Shadow's mouth rose to a slight smile.

"Come on, you will still be helping me in the kitchen." Maw winked.

* * *

Although the kitchen was large and its appliances cutting edge, it was empty. Shadow had removed his gloves but kept his inhibitor rings on, placing the gloves in his quills. Maw put on a fresh apron and brought one over for Shadow. He stood behind his lover and carefully tied the strings at the neck, gently grazing Shadow's bare shoulder with his fingertips.

Goosebumps ran up Shadow's arms, making his fur stand on end. Maw reached forward for the strings at the hips, sure to exhale a bit on Shadow's neck as he did so. Shadow swallowed thickly, feeling the thylacine pull on the apron to force him just a tiny bit closer as he tied the knot to secure it.

Maw moved to be next to his lover and started washing his hands. He ran Shadow's hands under the water, massaging the soap into his palms and under his claws.

"Bacteria and other pathogens like to hide under your claws," Maw said, "You want to make sure you clean them very well when preparing food."

"Any excuse to touch me." Shadow's cheeks were slightly flushed. "You're so transparent."

"I take my cooking seriously. It's how I fell in love with chemistry." Maw dried his hands and got to work. He instructed Shadow on what to do while preparing the chicken.

Shadow got to work cutting up the vegetables. He hesitantly sliced potatoes, doing a somewhat poor job of it. The vegetable was chopped unevenly leaving some tiny chunks mixed with larger ones.

"You don't cook often, do you?" Maw massaged oils into the flesh of the bird.

"I live off of microwave food." Shadow pouted.

"It's okay, those are going to be mashed potatoes. Nobody will know The Ultimate Lifeform can't cut a tuber to save his life." Maw loaded the bird onto a pan and brought up another raw chicken to season.

"I'll cut _your_ tuber..." Shadow muttered under his breath with a smirk.

"Hmph!" Maw huffed, aggressively running his hands over the chicken.

In that moment Shadow wished he was the one getting massaged with oil.

"So…" The hedgehog got his bearings after his fifth potato. "You were homeless?"

"Yeah. Bit of a sore spot but I can talk about it." He did not look up from his work as he seasoned another five chickens. "I was big on cooking as a kid. My parents loved coming home from being out on the ranch to see I had butchered my own meat and made dinner. I loved coming up with new combinations of seasonings and sauces."

A smile appeared on the thylacine's muzzle. "We lived in the middle of nowhere in the outback far from anyone else. It was twenty-four kilometers from the nearest house and about three hours from any store so we'd buy things in bulk. The only time I wasn't cooking or caring for our livestock I was nose-deep in books borrowed from this beat-up library truck that would come by once a month. So many wonderful cookbooks and science textbooks were devoured in those days. I'd read them over and over until I could recite them by heart.

"I was real happy back then playing with my sister and teaching her to read. See, we are home-schooled in the outback and this was before we had internet, so we did everything by hand. We met up with other home-schooled students every so often to play together and socialize."

Maw frowned. "Anyway, things were good until I came across another book that talked about world mythologies. I remember being about ten or eleven and reading about gay warriors fighting side by side and gods who had no concept of gender.

"I realized after a while some of that I identified with. I asked my father about it and he yelled at me. He said we don't talk about that kind of stuff and it's inappropriate. He took the book away and burned it. I remember being outraged that he burned a book that wasn't ours, but not what he said about people like me.

"I tried to stifle my gayness. I remember my mother trying to tell my father it wasn't proof that I was a fag because I liked to cook because so many world famous chefs are wonderful straight men. I didn't know what that word meant, either, but given the context I knew it was bad."

"Maw," Shadow frowned, "You don't have to tell me anymore."

"I want to, Shadow." The thylacine swallowed. "As I was saying, there goes my thirteenth birthday and we do the meetup." He transferred the last chicken to the pan, covered them with foil and put it in the preheated oven.

"Of course, I tried to ask any of the other boys if they were gay and, to my surprise, none were. At least, none were _out_. I told you about the pile-up of girls." Maw washed his hands again before returning to help Shadow with the vegetables. "Thank God my father thought I was just popular with the ladies and that saved my ass for a few years."

"So then my sixteenth birthday rolls around and I'm feeling pretty ace. Yeah, I can take him on I'm big and strong now and his jaw is hanging on by a thread! What's my pop gonna say? So I officially come out as gay after making my birthday wish. Big mistake." Maw sliced green onions into tiny pieces with a very sharp knife.

"He kicked the shit out of me before kicking me out of the house. I walk away, limping, with nothing but the clothes on my back and belly full of half-digested birthday cake. I knew where I was going so I made it to a nearby town after walking all night in the cold. My socks were blood-soaked, that's how much walking I did. I somehow got a job at a greasy spoon type diner washing dishes but spent my nights sleeping in the brush."

Shadow had stopped cutting vegetables a while ago and only looked at his boyfriend with turmoil churning in his stomach.

"That's also how I met Doctor Eggman!" Maw perked up.

"You said you sought him out." Shadow raised a brow.

"I lied; I don't like talking about the truth with people I don't really know so I just tell people that to keep them quiet. My motivations are still the same, however."

"I see. Continue, then."

"I didn't know who he was at the time but I knew he was important and smart because he had two robots with him and he kept saying how he regret building them. He ordered a giant meal and I was tasked with helping cook it because it was so large. He was quite impressed with the meal but left a bad tip. My boss was angry saying I did a terrible job waiting on him since the foreigner didn't tip better. I was so flustered I tripped while collecting the plates and broke a bunch. I was fired on the spot."

Maw transferred the cut vegetables into a pot of water to boil. "I walked out and there was Eggman standing by his little RV that was just as slick-looking as he was. He called me over and I'm standing there thinking _oh God this grown man wants to buy me for sex or something_ but I go over anyway. He offers me a job in the Empire. Now look at me! I've got a masters in chemistry and robotics and I'm working on my doctorate in both and I'm not even twenty-five years old."

Shadow leaned in and kissed Maw on the cheek. "I'm so lucky to have such a cool, smart boyfriend."

"I'm lucky my boyfriend is cute even though he couldn't dice a potato to save his life." Maw nuzzled back.

Shadow threw his head back and groaned. "Oh, my God. The damned potatoes."

"Okay; no more messing around. We really got to get cooking." Maw went back to work.


	96. Bon Appétit

The feast was fit for any king. The several well-seasoned and perfectly cooked chickens were only the appetizers. Succulent vegetables in colorful arrangements sat somewhat off to the side while the meats took center stage. A rack of lamb flanked a pile of juicy beef steaks. Four large bowls filled with buttery mashed potatoes was placed at each corner of the large table. The scents of the meats mixed together was intoxicating to all but the one vegetarian in the room.

A strange protein rolled into meatballs and tossed atop squid ink linguine turned out to be kangaroo and was reserved exclusively for Maw.

For Hope the room smelled like Thanksgiving and she felt a pang of nostalgia for her home which had not existed for years.

Poached spiced pears were served on the side of the hearty sweet potato and ginger soup made especially for Sheptilah. To the side of the room a different chef prepared roast beef under a lamp and cut to order.

Some other Egg Troops wearing clean aprons acted as waitstaff to tend to the needs of the special guests. MARI stood in the corner with Metal and Omega, observing and playing music.

"This is the cool kid section," she said, "No meatbags allowed."

"Affirmative." Omega chirped but kept close watch.

Eggman sat at the head of the table beside his wife. Shadow and Maw sat across from each other. Beside the hedgehog sat Rouge and Hope facing Amy and Silver.

"Maybe I should keep you in-house as my personal chef, Maw. This looks _incredible_." Eggman pushed aside a waiter to fill up his own plate himself.

"We grew all our own vegetables and care for our own livestock. Everything you see here is locally sourced. I've selected only the finest of ingredients and prepared all of it myself with light assistance from my sous chefs and Shadow."

Rouge opted to have the waitstaff prepare her plate with a little of everything. "Shadow helped you? I've never seen him cook a thing in his life that didn't travel from freezer to microwave."

Shadow rolled his eyes. "I was making sure the kitchen was on the up and up; but it was a very nice experience to see how a professional kitchen runs. It is very, very hectic."

"Aw, you went behind the scenes without me? I'm so jealous." Rouge sipped her sweet tea, ice cubes clinking against the glass.

"You have your own livestock?" Hope leaned in curiously. "You have a farm?"

"Yes." Maw nodded, politely chewing on his meatballs. "There is a small one in the back but a larger one a few miles away that provides for the whole base."

"I didn't think Eggman had a _farm_." Hope narrowed her eyes, cautiously picking at her chicken and rice. "I'm sure they're kept in very cramped, filthy cages."

"Not quite. Our livestock is free to roam a fenced in area kept safe by stockmen and women and our trained dogs. If you like I can take you to the ranch tomorrow but we will there on horseback. This base is self-sufficient and completely off the grid and unhappy livestock would be unhealthy."

"I'd love to go, too!" Amy spoke up.

Hope apprehensively nodded. It had been a very long time since she saw any animals and was excited by the idea of getting to see some. Getting to experience horseback riding was a dream she kept secret since early childhood, knowing full well that her parents could never find time to go to the countryside.

"Have you met the puppies?" Silver excitedly wiggled. "They're so cute!"

"There's _puppies_ here?" Hope asked, wondering if they were abused.

"They're corgis." Shadow nodded at the girl.

"The cutest little babies! I was there when they were born!" Silver's smile took up his face.

"Horses, chickens, sheep, cows and pigs are our main stock but we do have a few alpaca and one ancient ornery camel named Pretzel." Maw sipped his wine. "We grow a wide variety of plants including sunflower, cotton, wheat, corn and grapes to make our wine." He lifted his glass. "Something you are not yet old enough to enjoy."

"You will be taking me to the mine first." Eggman said between bites of his food. " _Then_ you may do the petting zoo thing."

"Yes, sir." Maw said automatically.

Hope's anger became more difficult to hide and she only picked at her food, mostly moving it around her plate. She hated how even the Egg Bosses were conditioned to be under his absolute command even when at rest.

"This is _delicious_." Sheptilah spoke, barely audible over her husband's loud eating noises. "Even the spiced wine is enchanting."

"It's _spiced?_ I thought it was a weird kind of Tralusian grape." Shadow peered into his glass.

"Yes, our grapes were bred to have the Eggman Industries logo on each fruit." Maw teased. "No, the wine is mulled and has cinnamon in it. If you like I can have someone bring an _unpopped_ bottle if you like."

Rouge raised an eyebrow.

Shadow's ears twitched and his cheeks tingled. "No, it's alright; I was just making an observation. I'm no sommelier and alcohol doesn't affect me, anyway." Shadow errantly sucked on a lamb rib, trying to get every last particle of meat from it.

Rouge squinted at him and looked back at Maw. The thylacine's mouth was curled into a very slight smirk.

"Alcohol doesn't affect me, either." Tilly said as she sipped the last of her soup from the bowl.

"You are not missing out." Maw finished his savory meal. "Being drunk is not as fun as films make it to be."

A waiter took the dirty dishes away and refilled their drinks.

Shadow picked up another piece of lamb rack with his claws and put it in his mouth, sucking the meat off while slowly pulling the clean bone from his lips like a lollipop stick. He side-eyed Maw as he did so.

"I don't want to ruin a perfect _virgin_ cocktail by being overly ambitious," Maw said, putting down his cup, "Exotic fruit juice combinations can be ruined by the addition of a very overpowering ingredient."

"I suppose you have a very sophisticated palette for flavors." The hedgehog ran his fingers through his quills.

Rouge lightly kicked Shadow's ankle under the table. The hedgehog flinched.

"Cool it." She muttered.

"I _do_ have an experienced tongue for savory dishes since I prefer meat more than anything," Maw shrugged, "Being an obligate carnivore and all. Sometimes a light cocktail is enough to satisfy me as a dessert. I cannot stand most fizzy sodas."

"That and you cannot be under the influence while grading lab reports." Shadow said, finishing off his wine.

"There are no shenanigans in _my_ laboratories." The thylacine straightened his uniform. "I run a very tight ship."

Sheptilah looked back and forth between them as they spoke, taking note of their somewhat agitated body language. She frowned at them, wondering what was wrong between them and why the thylacine seemed to enjoy teasing her brother.

"Honey?" Eggman looked at her.

"Yes, husband?" She turned to him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it."

* * *

Shadow waited until Silver had fallen asleep under a pile of puppies before leaving his room. He quietly made his way to Maw's suite and softly knocked on the door.

Maw answered, looking exhausted with his fur oily and eyes heavy.

"Are you alright?" Shadow whispered.

"Trying to finish these reports. Come in." Maw closed the door behind Shadow, making sure to lock it.

Piles of lab reports in plastic binders were stacked into neat towers. A yellow legal pad was marked top to bottom with notes and math equations in different colors of pen inks. A half empty cup of coffee sat on a coaster shaped like Eggman's logo, still steaming. Soft chillhop wafted through a speaker connected to a white mp3 player, setting a calm mood.

"Your apartment is very plush." Shadow looked around, noting that not one speck of dust dared lay anywhere. "Very nice."

"Thank you." Maw said, returning to his desk chair. "You can stay as long as you like, but I must keep working."

Shadow sat on the nearby sofa, sighing contentedly. "Hey, Maw?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for being patient with me."

"Patient? There's nothing about you that requires patience." Maw opened a binder and looked over its contents.

"I mean with being sexually unavailable to you."

"I've got all my life for you. I'm in no rush to go rootin'."

Shadow sunk further into the sofa. His ears, erect and alert, swiveled to the only noise was the scratching of the pen and Maw's tail occasionally hitting the side of his desk.

He dozed after a while and woke to the sound of a door closing and a shower running. Shadow sat up and noted that he was in a bed and that the music had long since stopped playing.

Shadow squinted, trying to remember how he got there and wondering if anything had happened. The softness of the bedding threatened to steal the hedgehog away into eternal sleep. _How tired am I that I can't find the energy to get up? Should I even bother trying?_

Maw made the decision for him when the thylacine exited the bathroom fully dressed in his stylish pajamas with his phone in hand.

"Did you have a nice nap?" The thylacine rubbed his ears with the corner of a towel to make sure they were fully dry. "I'm letting you know right now that this is the _only_ time I will allow you in my bed with your shoes on."

The large, plush bed had white and gray bedding that carried the scent of having been dried in the warm sun around lavender fields. Exquisite Aboriginal tapestries in protective frames in the glassy white walls. Photographs of mobini thylacine cave paintings in black and white served as a reminder to him of his ancient, albeit doomed, roots. There was no other furniture except for a small floor lamp beside the bed, a hamper and an overstuffed but well-organized bookshelf.

A long, frameless glass window went around the corner of the room allowing for a gorgeous view of the unbroken horizon, bathing the room in orange and red. Shadow appeared to glow like a dying flame with the sun setting behind him.

"I almost never take my skates off." Shadow sat up, the fluffy comforter rustling under his weight.

"I didn't wanna pull off your shoes and risk waking you. I already annoyed you enough by picking you up." Maw folded the towel before he put it in the hamper.

Shadow kicked off his shoes and let them fall on the floor with a clatter. Maw winced at the noise and shook his head, smiling.

"So you always wear your inhibitor rings?" The thylacine asked, sitting on the edge of the bed and subtly fixing the shoes with his feet.

"These never come off," Shadow held up his wrists in demonstration, " _Ever_. There's too much power in me for it to be safe. I could really hurt myself or others without meaning to."

"They're very becoming on you." Maw leaned in, placing his hand on Shadow's. "Are you staying the night?"

Shadow looked away, red cheeks cloaked by the sunset. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"I mean it in the least sexual way possible, babe." Maw's ear twitched. "I'm asking because I've got to get up early to show Lord Eggman the gold mine."

"I probably shouldn't. Silver might ask where I was but I also don't want to be alone."

"TV on." Maw instructed. A flat screen revealed itself on the wall opposite the bed. "Want to watch something?"

"Won't you be tired tomorrow?"

"No. I like to read or play games on my phone at this time as a way to unwind before going to bed." Maw snuggled in next to his boyfriend. He scrolled through his phone for the remote control app.

Shadow rested his head on Maw's shoulder and relaxed. The thylacine flipped through the channels until he settled on an old comedy show.

"This good?"

"Perfect."

Maw put his phone down and put his arm around his boyfriend. "Do you feel safe here?"

"With you? Sure."

"I meant in the base."

"Yes. How has no satellite seen the buildings, though?"

"They see the little ones. We designed the roofs in such a way that it looks like the terrain from above and generally nobody cares about this part of the outback anyway."

"GUN likes to use cloaked Gold Beetles which can teleport places. I worry that we'll be found."

"It's ace, babe. No worries. They don't even know I exist." He kissed Shadow's cheek. "Unless you went and told 'em."

"Nope. I told Rouge about an hour before we all left."

"You told her we're dating?"

"Yeah. She was worried you were using me by Eggman's request."

"I am totally after your lemon candies." He teased. "But that's for my _own_ gain, not Lord Eggman's."

Shadow snickered. "Could you imagine the Doctor saying to you 'please seduce Shadow for the good of the Empire'? I cannot."

Maw's face scrunched up into a smile and he broke into laughter. " _Make sure you do it in front of Sonic to make that blue pincushion jealous!_ "

"Go for the neck, that's Shadow's weak spot." The hedgehog puffed out his cheeks to imitate Eggman.

"Oh it is, is it?" Maw's mouth curled into a devious smile. "Dare I take a nibble?"

Shadow squinted, smirking. He crawled on top of his boyfriend and leaned in close. "I want to top this time."

The thylacine's cheeks turned bright red. " _Shadow_."

"What?"

"I don't think you know what that means." He bit his lip, trying to stifle a laugh.

"I'm on top. Is that not what it means?"

"No, to top, the verb, means _you_ penetrate your partner."

Shadow leaned up and furrowed his brow.

"You're saying you want to fuck me in the arse." The thylacine's brows shot up.

"Maybe in the future…" Shadow blushed, looking down at his equally flustered lover. "I don't know if I'd want you to…" He paused for the word on the tip of his tongue. " _Penetrate_ me." His eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.

Maw reached up and laid his hand on Shadow's cheek, running his thumb over the hedgehog's soft, warm lips. "Oh, babe. I just assumed you would be in control of when and if that happens."

Shadow's heart thudded hard and fast like a trapped bird. He looked longingly into the thylacine's ametrine eyes and down to his inviting lips, lingering there. _Maybe I am ready_ , he lied to himself. _Falling in love won't hurt, will it?_ _Even if I don't end up loving him, so what? I should feel… good._

He leaned down, letting the weight of his body lay completely on his lover and caressed his fur. They kissed breathlessly and passionately as if it would be the last they'd ever share together.

Maw massaged Shadow's back and buttocks, taking in every bump and curve of the Ultimate Lifeform's immaculate, unexplored body. He stopped to grip the base of his tail with one fist and his rump with the other, forcing Shadow to grind on his erection by pulling him forward and pushing back.

The thylacine focused on kissing Shadow's neck, rolling his tongue in circles and suckling in such a gentle way as to not leave a hickey.

The hedgehog's body grew hot, every nerve firing at once. He needed the release he wasn't going to get by staying in that position. He wanted the thylacine to hold him down and roughly take him for everything he was worth.

"I needed this," Shadow gasped softly, "I think I'm going to go crazy if I don't finish."

"Don't rush." Maw moaned. "Don't hurt yourself." He returned to French kissing the dark hedgehog, letting him dominate.

"Your voice is going to throw me over the edge." Shadow rolled so that his boyfriend was on top. "What is it about you that's so… hot?"

"I think you like blonde boys with stripes." He winked.

Shadow's face glistened with small beads of sweat, his chest rising and falling with excitement and anxious desire. "I can do this. I _need_ this." He spoke to himself more than he was speaking to his boyfriend.

Maw raised a brow.

"Make me yours." He turned his head away with shame. "I don't care. Just do it, Maw."

"How do you mean?"

Shadow frowned, side-eyeing him. His breathing slowed but he swore he would burst if his lover moved so much as an inch lower.

Maw stared for a moment before chuckling, hanging his head. "I won't lie, I really, _really_ want to."

He ran his hand through Shadow's chest fluff, feeling his heartbeat thrum. "I bet you are warmer than sunshine and more delicate than…" He was so taken by Shadow's beauty and innocence that he couldn't finish his thought. "I can't. I _shouldn't_."

" _Please_." Shadow whispered, ears pinned back.

"Don't be a drongo, mate," Maw's accent was more pronounced, "It's too soon. You'll just hate me and yourself if I do." He was tempted by this perfect being begging for release but he knew he couldn't oblige. Not yet, anyway.

Shadow was prone to rushing things and acting without thinking on impulse and Maw knew this. He hoping to calm him down by petting his ear.

Shadow groaned with frustration. He felt sexual tension like a rubber band pulled taught and threatening to snap. The hedgehog slammed his eyes shut, stifling tears. The comedy show continued in the background and Shadow felt as if the audience was laughing at _him_.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, "I got carried away. I just need the release."

"Oh, babe…" The thylacine felt arousal wash over him. _It would be cruel to not at least help him get where he wants to go_ , he thought. "That I can do." He leaned down and kissed Shadow's neck and chest, moving further south as he did. He stopped just above his navel. "Should I keep going?"

"Yes." The hedgehog moaned breathlessly.

Maw kept a tight grip on Shadow's virgin hips as he moved his way further downward towards the organ that twitched with anticipation.

"Don't be afraid of my jaw." He held the base of Shadow's cock and looked up at his tender lover with his gold-flecked violet gaze.

The hedgehog locked eyes with the blonde, his expression dreamy and needy. "I'm not afraid. I trust you."

 _I trust you_. Those three words chipped away at any apprehension Maw had left in his soul, granting him permission to continue his work. He started by slowly stroking the shaft base to tip, teasing his inexperienced lover.

"TV off." Maw said. The television obediently shut off and vanished back into the wall. He continued to rub Shadow's cock, occasionally punctuating teases by dragging his tongue across the sensitive flesh. Shadow gripped the bedding, unsure of what else to do with his hands, and arched his back.

"Be as loud as you want, my little lamb chop." Maw whispered. "The walls are soundproof."

"Please don't call me lamb chop." Shadow rolled his eyes.

"As you wish, _Master_." Maw smirked.

Before the hedgehog could protest the thylacine had his dick in his hot mouth. The sudden spike in temperature made Shadow inhale sharply and moan with lust, tossing his head side to side as Maw slowly bobbed his head up and down.

It took all of his willpower to not come instantly. Although the thylacine's mouth was ringed with sharp teeth his tongue was quite soft and inviting. He was very careful to not scrape or bite his lover's cock or to pull hard on the foreskin.

Maw seemed to enjoy his task of making his boyfriend writhe and whimper with pleasure, taking his time and savoring the taste of this previously unexplored organ. He'd sneak glances and paid attention to Shadow's body language to see what he liked and what he didn't. Maw quickly learned to focus on the tip by rolling his tongue across it and teased his lover by pulling away to pump the base with his hand.

"Oh, God," Shadow muttered, "Ah, Maw…" The way the hedgehog bit his lip to keep quiet made it difficult for Maw to maintain composure. He took the cock deeply and easily, blessed with not having much of a gag reflex from years of being used to having doctors shoving their fingers into his mouth.

The blonde reached down and stroked his own cock, the vibrations of his throaty moans seemed to throw Shadow over the edge and the hedgehog came hard. Maw swallowed the load without tasting it but kept sucking until he himself finished into his hand. He was not one to let his bedding get messier than it had to be.

Shadow panted with exertion, feeling every bit of tension and anxiety flow out of him. He was left with a warm, calm feeling throughout his body. His chest rose and fall with deep, fast breaths. He stared at the ceiling until he came back to his senses. He hadn't noticed his lover had trotted off to the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his hands.

"Babe?" Shadow called in a hoarse voice.

"I'll be right back," Maw replied, "One moment, please."

"Alright." Shadow said. He waited a moment but felt uncomfortable in the silence. "TV on."

The appliance once again flickered on, still playing that old comedy show.

Maw returned to the bed all freshened up.

Shadow snuggled up to the blonde, enjoying the scent of his body wash. He smelled good. _Really_ good. The hedgehog found himself falling asleep again, lulled by the safety and warmth.

"Babe." Maw whispered.

"Hm?"

"You should probably go."

"Why?"

"I will have a hard time explaining why you're leaving my room in the morning if Lord Eggman sees you."

"Maybe we should just tell them." Shadow nuzzled into his pillow.

"You really want to do that?"

"I should at least tell my sister."

"Ah, love," Maw scratched at the base of Shadow's ear, "Maybe wait a little longer before you come out."

"Okay."

* * *

"Honey, what in the world is your problem _now?_ " Eggman changed into his pajamas.

"I feel… weird." Sheptilah sat on the bed with Arabica in her lap. "It's that thylacine."

"What's bothering you about him?"

"I don't know. Something feels off."

"Because he's gay?"

" _No_. It's something to do with Shadow." She pet the dog, enjoying her soft baby fluff.

Eggman picked a brush off the dresser and went over to his wife, sitting behind her. He ran the brush through her hair making sure to move it out of her face.

"It's just likely that Shadow is very nervous around the Egg Bosses and is feeling bad about abandoning GUN." He leaned in, kissing her cheek. "You're so beautiful without your hair in your face, darling."

She sighed, letting her shoulders droop. "It's something else. Something… _cosmic_."

"I wouldn't worry about it, sweetheart. Maw knows that if he even _looks_ sideways at Shadow I could have him executed for it."

"I would never, _ever_ allow you to do that."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I don't have the power to do it. What's important is that Maw knows I _can_. Their friendship is probably just very tense."

"Maybe…" Tilly relaxed to the sensation of having her hair brushed.

"Did you talk to your therapist today?"

"Yes, I did."

"Good, now stop worrying about others and focus on _me_."

"You want that back massage now?"

"Always." He tossed the brush over his shoulder and laid face-down. "By the way, darling, there's a present for you under the bed."

"Hm?" She summoned it with her magic. It was a hard, glossy cardboard box in black. She ran her hand over the embossed gold lettering, trying to read it. "Saturn… alia? Saturnalia?"

"Open it."

She lifted the lid off of the box and noted something soft and dark purple was wrapped in a black ribbon. It was a beautiful French silk lingerie set. The bra was high-necked with a large heart-shaped opening in the center to allow for Rabisu. The panties were delicate lace and somewhat transparent, allowing the tufts of silver locks show through.

"It's called _lingerie._ " He said with a smug tone.

"What is its purpose?"

"To make you look _scrumptious_." He leaned up on his elbows. "Try it on!"

She raised a brow at this but opted to play along. She stood, removing her clothing and carefully applying the lingerie. She teased him by taking her time pulling the panties up, lingering at her thighs. He took off his glasses, not looking away from her.

She put on the bralette, exhaling slowly as she did so. The snug fit of the lacy underthings felt like she was wearing nothing at all.

"Mm, mm, mm…" Eggman grinned. "Yummy."

She blushed, giggling behind her hand. "So you want me to adorn myself in frilly nonsense?"

"You could wear a _garbage bag_ and I'd still want to make love to you." He stuck out his tongue. "But this lingerie is expensive to handle with care."

"Rabisu feels pretty." She joked. "Maybe I'll just wear this all the time."

"Would you?" He pouted.

She snickered and walked over to him and began massaging his back. "You don't have to buy me expensive things, you know."

"No woman of mine is going to wear rags."

"I like my rags!"

"Let me spoil you sometimes. Diamonds and pearls and French lace."

"I love being pampered but you do not need to maintain my love for you in that way. Especially not with soft, delicate underthings that I won't wear longer than a minute."

He moaned into the pillow as she put her weight into his spine, making the joints crack and releasing tension. The icky feeling in her heart persisted even though she tried to distract herself by focusing on her husband who had evidently fallen asleep not five minutes into the massage.

She turned off the light and crawled into bed beside Ivo and Arabica and tried to sleep off her troubles. About an hour into her sleep she woke up with a start, feeling heat pour over her body like unfiltered sunlight. She looked around, wide-eyed in the dark.

"What… what the Hell was _that?_ " She asked herself, jumping at the sound of her husband snoring.

 _It seems our familiar is feeling good._

"Huh?"

 _Do not worry about it. He is fine._ _Go back to sleep._

"Alright…" She yawned and fell back to sleep the second her head hit the pillow.

* * *

The TV cut off by itself. Shadow stirred in the sudden absolute darkness before a flashing red light fully woke him. A high-pitched chime rang out, waking everyone else.

"Babe." Shadow nudged Maw.

The thylacine sat up, dizzy from sleepiness. "The power cut off. Give the generators a second." He shook his head to clear the cobwebs in his brain. "Nope. The power is down for the count." He looked at the time on his phone. It was just about three in the morning meaning he had slept next to Shadow for about five hours.

The hedgehog already had his shoes on and was preparing to teleport to his room. Maw felt around in the dark for his slippers and put them on. He walked to the kitchen and pulled out a flashlight, turning it on.

" _Maw!_ " Eggman hollered. Evidently the walls were not as soundproof as previously thought.

"Gotta go, babe." The thylacine whispered, kissing Shadow's cheek before running out the door and closing it behind him.

"What happened?" Eggman yelled down the hall. "Are we under attack!?"

Metal Sonic who forced his way in front of his master.

"No." MARI chirped from the gauntlet. "Omega blew a fuse!"

"Oh, right. I guess he was too much for it even though I got him a converter." Maw pointed the light down the hallway.

Orbot and Cubot came floating up.

"Boss!" The red one said. "Omega blew a fuse!"

"He's just too beefy!" Cubot whined.

"We know!" Eggman growled with frustration.

"You can go back to bed, sir. I'll handle this." Maw turned to walk to the suites on a lower floor when Eggman brushed past him. Sheptilah came out of the room wearing a short silk bathrobe and holding Arabica. She followed Eggman, path lit by her eyes and Oracle Stone.

"I think you did this on purpose." Hope scolded the robot.

"I would not risk our safety for pettiness." Omega said. "I do, however, enjoy the trouble this has caused."

Shadow teleported into the room. "Alright. What happened?"

"Where have _you_ been?" Amy held her phone's flashlight up to Shadow's face.

" _Around_." The dark hedgehog said. "Omega. I'm told you are responsible."

"It was an accident." The automaton said. "I am simply too much robot for this puny base to handle."

"Oh, _aces_." Maw said as he entered the room. "You." He pointed at Omega.

"Leave him alone," Hope defended, "It was an accident."

Maw looked down his nose at the human.

"Hello, Maw." Rouge said.

The thylacine turned to the bat with a knowing look before turning to Shadow. "I am going to go flip our comically _huge_ breakers and I may need your help."

"Comically huge?"

"Think _Looney Tunes_."

"Are you serious!?" Hope scoffed. "Whose idea was _that?_ "

"Mine, of course!" Eggman came in. "Everything here is my design, more or less. I have an aesthetic I adhere to."

"Follow me or stay here, it's your choice." Maw said to the girls, briskly moving past Eggman. Shadow and Hope followed, but Rouge stayed behind with Amy and Omega.

Eggman soon joined the group going to one of the lowest levels of the base. The breaker room was large and mostly empty, situated behind a strong steel door. Some Egg Troopers stood around with flashlights waiting for Maw to arrive as only the Egg Boss has access.

Maw punched in a code and the door opened for him. The switches were indeed cartoonish in size and shape. There were six knife switches, all in the off position. Their handles were bright red and plastic while the arms were solid steel.

"Now that I think about it, perhaps this was a bad design." Eggman admitted. "But it was made so that if Sonic ever busted in for some reason he would have a very hard time de-powering the base."

"So how do we flip the switches?" Shadow asked.

Eggman walked over to one and lifted it as high as it would go. He then moved to the other side and pulled it downward with a loud click. "One down, five to go."

Sheptilah wolf-whistled at her husband. In response he stopped to flex his muscles and pose like a pro wrestler.

Shadow scoffed. He walked to another switch and prepared to lift it.

Maw rushed to his side. "Wait, you're going to hurt yourself."

Metal Sonic silently observed.

Shadow lifted the switch with such force it almost made its way back into the prongs on the other side. He simply walked to it and pushed it the rest of the way in while maintaining smug eye contact with Maw. He made sure to stick his hips out a bit to bring attention to his rear as he did so.

The thylacine stared wide-eyed and slightly flustered. "Never… never mind."

Metal in turn flipped three switches by himself.

"Don't forget that Shadow's strength is dampened by his suppressive rings, _Maw_." Eggman said as he shoved the blonde out of the way to reset the final switch. After a minute the power came back on. Faint cheers were heard down the hallway. "He could rip us apart like wet paper if he wished."

"Yes, sir." Maw said submissively. "I apologize for forgetting that detail, Lord Eggman. I also apologize for assuming you were weak in any way, Shadow."

"I know he's small and adorable but he's a weapon and you _will_ treat him as such." The Overlander commanded. "With _respect_ and _space_."

"Yes, sir. I apologize for speaking out of turn." Maw hung his head. He wondered just how much Eggman had figured out and how much Sheptilah could feel.

"I'm no weapon." Shadow said defiantly.

"Don't lie to yourself," Eggman huffed, "You're not like any other mammal on this planet. My wife could _barely_ put a dent in you when she's at full power and she's _insane_."

"Not that I'd want to!" She chirped. "I love my brother."

"Don't undersell her abilities," Shadow pushed past Eggman to pet Arabica, "She fought the ocean and _won_."

"Yeah, that's true. You can't kill her no matter how hard you try." Eggman put his hands on his hips.

"Boys." Sheptilah chided them. "I want to go back to bed."


	97. Rainbow Of Mine

Shadow walked back to his room and flicked the light on. Silver was still asleep, covered in puppies and snoring softly.

"You can sleep through anything when you feel safe, can't you?" Shadow said rhetorically. The hedgehog turned off the light and used his phone to light the way to his bed.

Beans crawled out from under it and put her paw on Shadow's leg.

"What is it, girl?" He whispered.

Beans wagged her stub of a tail and tried to jump up on the bed.

"Okay, you want up." Shadow lifted the dog and laid her next to him. He took off his shoes and scooted back so Beans would have as much room as possible.

The dog let out a soft grunt and immediately relaxed. Shadow covered them both with the blanket and looked at his phone.

YOUR EGG IS READY.

He loved seeing that popup. It was a digital representation of the physical act of thinking about someone and boy did Maw _always_ have him on his mind.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** Good night, lambchop.

Or food. He always had Shadow on his mind _and_ food. The hedgehog typed back a short and sweet message:

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** Sleep well babe

 **[xXf4k3erb0iXx]** I miss you already

He put his phone under the pillow and drifted off to sleep with his fingers absentmindedly scratching Beans' ear.

* * *

"A few more tweaks _and…_ " Tails finished tightening a screw on his new contraption. "We are done! The wiccaphage tracker should ready to go now." He stood proudly in his workshop and posed to impress Sonic.

It was not much bigger or more ornate than the average Geiger counter but the antennae were tuned to find deposits and residues of hydrofluoric acid within a five mile radius.

"If this works I will start work on making a giant one to detect the wiccaphages globally." Tails turned on the machine. It whirred, the piercing whine made their sensitive Mobian ears ring painfully.

"Ah, that's _really_ loud." Sonic folded his ears down.

"Give it a moment," Tails grimaced, "Ugh."

The machine went silent and indicated that there were no traces of the chemical within five miles. This could not possibly be correct as Tails still had some samples of the wiccaphage Shadow gave him in a special plastic container.

"So unless this thing _isn't_ calibrated right maybe _that's_ not wiccaphage juice." Sonic pointed to the bottle. His ears swiveled to a faint noise. "Hm?"

He turned and looked around but saw nothing. "Anyway, it seems we are back to square one."

"Wiccaphage tracker, take two!" Tails snapped his fingers.

* * *

Maw had a strict morning routine that he followed to the letter every day. First, he went to the bathroom to shower. After that he'd make breakfast, wash the dishes and read the news. Finally, before he went to work he changed his bedding.

He shook out the comforter before folding it and laying it in the hamper. He ran his fingers over the sheets to feel for any crumbs, stains or snags in the fabric. A few black hairs marred the otherwise perfect white surface. Maw softly chuckled to himself and made a mental note to pick up more lint rollers.

He pulled the pillow cases and put them in the hamper as well. He picked up the soft pillow and fluffed it vigorously. He spied what looked like pens underneath and picked them up. It was Shadow's spines, one red and one black.

He rolled them between his fingers, thinking about what to do with them.

 _It would be gross to keep it as it's essentially bodily waste. Then again, it's about as dangerous as a chopstick._ Maw had no keepsakes of his boyfriend yet and decided to leave them hidden in plain sight: the pen holder on his desk.

He finished his morning chores and set off to greet Eggman at his door. He waited patiently, making sure it was not yet six so he could pretend he _just_ got there at the right time. About ten minutes in he picked up the faint sounds of lovemaking. Maw pretended not to hear and adjusted the straps on his vest, mentally cursing himself for not being quieter with Shadow the night before.

After little more than five minutes the noises stopped. _That's… that's it?_ Maw almost felt sorry for the Empress.

Eggman shrieked like a child followed by the sound of rapid footsteps and a door slamming shut.

"Is everything alright in the-" Maw began. He was interrupted by the door opening.

It was Sonic. Or rather, Sheptilah _disguised_ as Sonic.

"It's not what you think, Maw." The doppelganger said in the witch's voice.

"I would not presume to _think_ , Mistress…"

"I told you, you can just call me Tilly." She shook her head, spikes clacking against each other.

"I will not lie... it is _very_ strange seeing Sonic's body speak like a Persian Eartha Kitt." He scratched his ear. "Are you and your husband ready to visit the gold mine?"

"No, he's just now getting in the shower." She closed the door and turned back into herself.

"May I ask why you took that form?" Maw raised his eyebrow.

"He called me _Lucinda_ in his half-asleep stupor."

The thylacine leaned in and whispered to her. "So you turned into _Sonic?_ "

"Woke him up like _that_." She snapped her fingers. "How long have you been out here?"

Maw shrugged. "Not very long."

She rubbed her chin thoughtfully before reaching out to pet his head. She was surprised by how exquisitely soft his fur was all over, not just on his face. "You have to stop teasing Shadow." Her hand drifted to the back of his head right behind the ear and she swore she felt a slight lump.

His ears twitched.

"You're always poking fun at him and it's upsetting."

"I apologize for appearing to be bullying Shadow. It is mutual playful banter between us. We spent quite a lot of time in that maze and find comfort in joking through the trauma with inside jokes. I assure you that I mean no ill will toward him or you and if it makes you that uncomfortable I will cease."

" _Oh_." She chewed her lip. "I misunderstood. That may be why I was getting weird feelings from Shadow whenever you were both, uh, bantering. Forget this conversation ever happened, okay?"

She ran her fingers over and around the bump again. "Is… is this the bomb?"

"I kindly ask that you stop _petting_ me, Lady Sheptilah."

"Sorry," she took her hand back, "Sorry, Maw."

Eggman came out freshly showered and dressed with Arabica in his hand. "Would you stop man-handling the furries?"

"It's his fault for being so soft." She mumbled under her breath.

 _Only your brother gets to pet me_ , Maw thought. _He can pet me as much as he wants._

* * *

"Hey, Shads?" Silver nudged the sleeping hedgehog. "I'm going to go take a shower."

Shadow opened his eyes. "So go. It's not like you need my permission."

"I'm just saying. Hey, where were you last night? I heard you leave and you didn't come back until way after."

"The power went out."

"It did?"

"You didn't hear the alarm?"

"No… I guess not. I only noticed when you came into the room and when you left it, but it was weird because you came back smelling different. Did you get a new body wash?"

Shadow felt a wave of heat wash over his body. "No. You must have been dreaming. Go take your shower, Silver, before you get dingy."

The white hedgehog fluffed his luxurious neck fur. "You're right! I need to condition this mane to remain this fabulous."

"Good bye, Silver." Shadow flopped back down. He nuzzled Beans and stroked her fur from head to tail.

He mulled over date ideas, thinking about what can and can't be done on or near the base.

 _I could teleport us to a secluded beach somewhere. We can make love by the water._ His cheeks grew warm. Nah. _Beach sex is a bad idea unless you're into exfoliating your insides and having to dig particles of shells out of your spikes for a week._

 _We could go to a movie somewhere. A really dumb sci-fi movie that will aggravate him into going on a comedic rant about the inaccuracies._ He couldn't think of anything interesting that was playing.

 _Maybe somewhere cold. A quiet park in Northern Eurish at night blanketed in fluffy piles of snow would be perfect._ He imagined snuggling up close on a bench with hot cocoa in their hands, keeping their lips warm with deep kisses. They'd retire to a cozy hotel room with a lit fireplace crackling behind them and snuggle under a comforter, talking about their dreams for the future.

Or the beach. Part of him wanted the thylacine to pound him into the soft, hot sand. They could be as loud as they wanted on some forgotten atoll, as wild and liberated as they were born to be. He fantasized about digging his claws into his blonde fur and thrusting over and over, making Maw cry out his name with each rocking motion.

 _Why the fuck am I so horny? That's the million dollar question. That damn blonde pulled some kind of plug and now it won't stop._

Most of all, maybe more than anything else, Shadow just wanted to sit in comfortable silence with his boyfriend and occasionally chuckle when they locked eyes.

His train of thought was derailed when he heard Silver's sweet voice waft from the bathroom shower. He couldn't quite figure out the lyrics other than a joyful repeating of 'Apple shampoo!'. Shadow sniffed the air, noting that the scent of the wash was indeed green apple.

He considered that Maw may have specially selected his room get that flavor so he smelled more appetizing. Shadow hoped that Silver wouldn't use it all on his substantial spikes.

" _Ooh you got me on my weakened knees!_ " There was a thud and the white hedgehog yelped. "Ow! My tootsie!"

"Do you need a chaperone, Silver?" Shadow got out of bed, careful to not disturb Beans as he did so.

The white hedgehog came out wearing a towel. "No, I'm done!" He rubbed his cheek with the fluffy towel, grinning broadly. "It's so nice to be able to take a real shower instead of just using my powers to blow the dirt off of me. Also, I smell delicious!"

The puppies ran to Silver and nipped at his bare toes.

"Oh, no!" Silver floated off the ground. "Puppy attack!"

"You're on your own." Shadow went into the bathroom to take his own shower. A second later he threw Silver's boots and gloves out and locked the door. The dark hedgehog looked himself over in the mirror, primping a bit before sending what he thought was a sexy picture to Maw.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** That mirror is filthy.

Shadow pouted.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** You look very cute but that mirror is atrocious.

He couldn't help but chuckle at that reaction.

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** I'm out right now with your sister and her husband

 **[Egg_Boss_Maw]** So try and behave when texting me for now ok?

Shadow looked at the time and clicked his tongue. It wasn't even ten in the morning. He put his phone on the sink and got into the shower, turning the water on at full blast. He let it run through his spines before massaging the candy-smelling soap into his fur, making sure to saturate it all the way through.

* * *

Summer in Tralius is one of the hardest landscapes to traverse even by air-conditioned vehicle. Maw escorted the couple himself in a small comby-like vehicle that had no logos. They quietly sat in the back, saying nothing and each looking at their phones.

Maw felt the vibration in his pocket from a text. He was able to peek at it, being alone on the flat road with nothing to hit. His boyfriend sent a teasing photo. He quickly texted back with the miracle of predictive text and went back to driving.

The mine was unremarkable and very well-hidden from prying eyes. It was small and disguised to look like any other pit in the ground by use of holograms. The thylacine drove very, very carefully along the winding road cut into the stone to get to the bottom.

"We're working on a more precise kind of sonic drill for smaller ore retrievals to make it safer for the robots to drill." Maw explained. "Though most of the finer work is done by people."

"Lemme out!" Tilly cheered. "This is so exciting! I've never seen a real gold mine before."

"Hang on, Lady Sheptilah. You have to wait until we get to the bottom." The blonde chuckled.

He parked in a safe place and hopped out of the vehicle. He opened the door for the Overlanders. The ground was hot even for early in the day, but the sensation was a comfort on Sheptilah's bare feet.

"Ah… feels like the ziggurat." She said, wiggling her toes.

A dark-skinned human Aboriginal forewoman came over with hard hats with built in lights for everyone. Her face was round and sweet, cheeks dimpled by her large smile. Her hair was tied back in a low ponytail and her clothing consisted of tough denim jeans, worker boots and gloves over a flannel shirt that did little to hide strong muscles.

"Hello, Maw!" The woman greeted him. "G'day, Lord Eggman and guest! I'm Tarni and I'm the forewoman of this mine."

"This is my _wife_." Eggman said proudly, gesturing to her.

She blushed slightly, finding the other woman _very_ attractive. "Hello, I'm Sheptilah but you can call me Tilly."

"Congratulations, Lord Eggman! What tribe are you from, love?" Her accent was far more pronounced than Maw's. "I'm Warumungu myself."

"Nannae." She pushed her hair behind her ear before putting on the hard hat. She drummed her fingers on the Lunar staff absentmindedly.

"She's not like us," Maw said, "She's from Iran, though she does appear like she could be from here."

" _Ancient_ Iran," Tilly corrected him, "I'm what you would think of as Mesopotamian."

"Bloody oath? You don't look a day over twenty five!"

"She's magic." Eggman patted Sheptilah's hard hat.

Tarni looked down and noticed Tilly was barefoot. "I can't let you into the mine without trainers, at least."

Tilly snapped her fingers and was instantly wearing her original Egg Boss uniform. The forewoman was stunned for a hot second, but bounced back instantly and returned to her chatty self.

"Strewth! You _are_ magic!" Tarni crossed her arms and looked at the other woman, nodding with approval. "Remind me to keep you away from my husband. He likes to pull rabbits from hats. If you're all good to go I'm ready to take you into the mine to show you our veins."

"Oh, yeah." Eggman put on his hat. "I'm very ready."

The mines were cold but dry and perfectly carved by the machines. They walked a quarter mile through the tunnels before they came to a very fat surface vein of gold in quartz in a large cavern. Tilly held onto her husband for dear life, feeling claustrophobic. She lit the way with her staff.

"This right here is our latest discovery. Heaps of it is in here which is a relief since we went quite a while without finding any but our geologists were sure _somethin'_ was in this area. I owe some of them frothies now."

"Excellent!" Eggman said cheerfully.

"Except…" Tarni hesitated. "Seems like there may be some wonky pockets nearby that make this vein a little unstable. We're a little apprehensive to continue much further, but we don't wanna give up on this load right away."

Sheptilah put her hand against the wall and felt along the rough quartz with her palm. "They're right. There's an aquifer behind it." Her eyes seemed to scintillate in the darkness like glitter in water. "A _lot_ of water."

"How can _you_ tell?" Tarni was suspicious.

Tilly opened a tiny, tiny portal with her fingernail, allowing freezing cold water to trickle through it. "There's knots in the Universe here. That means people were living down here some time ago. Enough activity that would leave behind such snags." She closed the portal.

"How far in is the water?" Ivo asked her.

"Not that far. Maybe fifty feet." Tilly shrugged. "But there is a _lot_ of it."

"Maybe we can pump the water out." Maw mused to himself. "We could easily drill through there and then analyze the water for trace minerals to see what else is around here."

Sheptilah's anxiety grew in the dark cave, making her hair stand on end. She imagined the tons of water pouring in, drowning them all. Shadow sensed this and teleported in, nearly knocking Maw to the floor.

"Bloody Hell!" Tarni yelled with surprise.

"It's raining men." Maw coughed. "What brings you 'round, Shadow?"

"My sister." He said. "She doesn't like tight spaces." He went over to her.

"I thought gold mines were much bigger…" She muttered sheepishly.

Shadow looked around, sensing something was _off_.

"Anyway," Maw continued, "I suppose we could pump the water out as long as the remaining cavity would be stable. It could be used for storage or disposal of waste."

"I _do_ need more places to safely store my toxic waste." Eggman tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't think you understand how much water there is." Tilly shook her head.

"She's right." Shadow placed his hands on the rock. "There's an entire lake back there."

"Oh, here we go again with the magic shenanigans." Eggman shook his head. "We better get out of here before something stupid occurs. Abandon this mine and start again in another direction. I'm too goddamned old for this."

Maw turned to Tarni and looked at her with concern. "This isn't an indigenous heritage site, is it?"

" _All_ of this land is."

"To clarify, I mean these caves. You didn't see any paintings, did you? Or artifacts?"

"No, sir. If we did I'd have notified you right off." The forewoman said, adjusting her hard hat.

Eggman picked Shadow up with one arm and his wife with the other. " _As I was saying_ , we are getting out of he-" He was stopped dead in his tracks, facing pitch black. Sheptilah dropped her staff out of surprise. There was a clatter then a weak splash.

Shadow created a green wisp to light the room. Something small skittered past his feet and disappeared into the wall.

"I just want… one trip. _One!_ " Eggman complained. "I am very, very done with this nonsense. I can feel my hairs going gray!"

"My staff! Ivo, put me down!" Sheptilah tried to wriggle free.

"Shh…" Maw held out his hand, trying to adjust to the darkness.

They stood on the edge of what looked like a thick, milky piece of glass. Still water was so crystal clear you could see miles to the bottom where immense quartz crystals jutted from the stone. Each razor-sharp gem itself was thicker than redwood trunks and taller than most buildings.

"There's no way this should be here. Crystals this massive only occur much deeper in the planet." Maw swallowed hard. "And in much hotter temperatures."

Ivo put his wife and the hedgehog down.

Shadow let the wisp float on the surface of the water and dove in head-first to try and grab the still-sinking staff. The frigid water shocked his system but he adjusted quickly, kicking his legs.

"Shadow!" Tilly shouted. She ripped off her jacket and shoes, diving after him.

 _What are you doing?!_ She thought at him.

 _I'm going for your staff!_ He thought back at her.

Tilly shifted herself gills on her throat and caught up to him. She grabbed him and swam back up to the surface, forcibly throwing him onto the crystal.

"Have you lost your mind?" She panted. "You can't just… just _do_ that."

Shadow spat out the water. "You need your staff, Ti-ti."

"I need _you_ more!" She grabbed the edge of the crystal and laid her cheek against it. "I can always summon it back to me."

The cave quietly rumbled. A crack of thunder shook loose pebbles from the ceiling, landing in the water but creating no ripples.

Ancient paintings slowly glowed in neon colors, depicting indigenous life long before explorers and colonizers knew of Tralius' existence. Colored light pulsated through from the crystals, illuminating the cave like the Aurora Borealis. Aboriginal constellations and moon charts appeared on the roof of the cave.

"We shouldn't be here." Maw backed up. "This is a sacred place."

"It _brought_ us here." Shadow shook the water from his spines. "We are meant to be here."

A rainbow arch appeared above the pool reaching from end to end before disappearing. Something moved in the water, creating small waves that pushed Tilly onto the crystal. The head of a massive snake covered in opalescent scales broached the surface, rising above them. The being's eyes glittered like gems embedded in the clearest glass.

 _Tria Prima..._ A quiet voice spoke to them. _And the Morning Star._

"This… this is a Dream." Maw fell to his knee. "The Rainbow Serpent god. The quartz makes sense now."

Shadow bowed politely. Sheptilah remained still as did her husband.

 _I called you here to give you blessings on your quest to protect this planet._ The serpent leaned in, tongue flicking in and out of their mouth. Aquatic plants sprawled across the surface and aggressively climbed the cavern walls, blooming in every color.

The thylacine did not make eye contact and found himself terrified in their presence.

 _Morning Star…_ They spoke to him directly. _You may look upon me like the others. Be not afraid._

He hesitantly looked up.

 _Friends of Thalassa- as long as you are on these lands you will be protected wherever you go. So say I; with one requirement, one condition._

"Yes…?" Sheptilah hesitated.

 _Blood tribute, human woman and thylacine._

"How much, exactly?" She scooted back.

Shadow held out his arm protectively over Maw.

 _I do not require much and it will not hurt you._

Maw lowered Shadow's arm with one hand and held out his trembling other at the serpent. Sheptilah likewise reached up her palm at the being. The serpent lowered a fang onto their hands, taking the tribute and wrapping their tongue across their wrists, dragging the organ across the palms to lick it up.

The serpent sighed with content, healing the wounds.

 _Now for the condition._

"Wait-" Eggman said. "You already got their blood."

 _Cease the mining operation here, human. This is sacred ground. Leave this place and do not return to it with your machines. You have an alchemist; let her create the gold you need. You may keep your opal mine, as it is not on sacred ground._

"As you wish." Sheptilah nodded.

"Wait a minu-"

" _Ivo_." Shadow hissed.

"Yeah, okay." He pouted.

"Thank you." Maw said. It was unclear whether he spoke to Eggman or the being.

Sheptilah's staff rose up from the water, spilling rainbow liquid from the open bud. It closed and floated to her, landing safely in her hands.

 _Now. Be gone._

They found themselves back with Tarni who was still calling their names. They had only been missing for a few seconds but were cold, wet and covered in the strange blossoms.


	98. Daytime Friends & Nighttime Lovers

"I miss all the good stuff!" Amy flopped back on the sofa in the master suite.

Sheptilah picked the flowers from her hair and placed them on a nearby nightstand. "Yes, well, much like my husband I am starting to get a little tired of these… what's the word? Sha-na-na… something like that."

"Shenanigans." Eggman answered from in the bathroom.

"That's it!" Tilly snapped her fingers. "A lot of godlike beings seem to be our friends, suddenly."

"Something must be _really_ going wild with the wiccaphages for them to take more notice." Amy blew her hair out of her face. "Even though it's been radio silence about them. Haven't even had any earthquakes."

"No news is good news."

"Wait a moment." She sat up. " _Husband?"_

"Uh oh." Tilly bit her lip.

"When did you two get married?! Why wasn't _I_ invited?"

"Four months ago and it was a secret!" Tilly held up her hands defensively. "GUN figured it out anyway and that's why we're all here. Shadow didn't tell you?"

"No, he didn't." Amy frowned. "All I know is he gave Sonic two Chaos Emeralds to hold onto just in case."

"So we only have five Emeralds…" Eggman came out of the shower in his floor-length bathrobe. "I'm going to be picking these flower things out of my hair for a _month_."

"Well, congratulations on getting married anyway! How exciting! Where'd you honeymoon?" Amy grinned so broadly her fangs showed.

"We didn't." Eggman tightened the belt. "Alright, time for you to go, Miss Pinkie. You have a farm to visit tomorrow, don't you? Go write about it in a journal or something." He shooed her out.

"Bye, Amy!" Tilly waved to her. "See you later!"

* * *

Shadow and Hope sat in her room on the sofa, flipping through TV channels. Rouge leaned over the back of the couch, resting her chin on Shadow's head.

"Can I help you?" He asked her.

"No, I'm good." Rouge chuckled. "You have to stop getting in trouble! That's what you get for going to a gold mine without me."

"Are you coming with us to the farm thing tomorrow? I'd really like it if you did." Hope fiddled with her new phone.

"Me? Ride a horse?" Rouge hopped onto the sofa, landing square between the two. "I'd do anything for you, Hope."

"I'm going to walk it. I don't like the idea of riding a very large animal." Shadow thumbed his phone screen, scrolling through the news feed.

"Maybe the dingo will make you ride the camel." Hope snickered.

"He's a thylacine," Shadow corrected her, "Dingo tails are fluffier and they do not have stripes."

"Maw has stripes? I guess I didn't pay too much attention..." Hope pouted.

"Yeah. On the back of his head, on his arms and legs, across his snout, his forehead, tail and back. Sometimes they're called Tasmanian Tigers." He brought up an image of a Mobini thylacine. "See?"

Hope took the phone and looked. "Huh. You know a lot about this guy, Shadow." She took it at face value and didn't question anything he said, but did wonder how he would know if Maw had stripes on his back.

"It's my job to." He shrugged.

"Why'd they go extinct?" Hope peeped at the phone.

"Humans are largely responsible." Shadow brushed back his spines with his fingers.

"The last one that lived in captivity was named Benjamin." Rouge nodded. "He bit a camera man on the bottom."

Hope snickered. "You both really do your homework." She sighed, then frowned. "I'm sorry about everything, Shadow. This whole mess is because of my dumb uncle."

"It's not your fault, Hope. You didn't do anything wrong. If anything, it was my _sister_ who caused the trouble."

"What… what's going to happen if GUN finds us?"

"They won't, sweetie." Rouge patted Hope's head. "But even if they did we'd be okay. Tower just needs to cool down."

Shadow's phone chimed.

YOUR EGG IS READY!

"Looks like I must go. I'll be back in a bit."

* * *

Maw laid two plates full of food on his dining table: two succulent beef steaks, both medium rare, oozed with delicious juices and were smothered in bacon mashed potatoes. He lit a small unscented candle in the center of the table for ambiance, carefully poured two glasses of red wine and waited.

Shadow teleported in. He leaned his head back and sniffed the air, taking in the wonderful scents.

"Have a seat, love." Maw sat in his chair and scooched closer to the table.

"Now I'm convinced you're trying to fatten me up." Shadow sat and looked at his food and felt his mouth water with anticipation.

"There's baked French toast for dessert." Maw winked.

"Oh, you are _definitely_ trying to get me fat."

They ate quietly, enjoying their meal. They avoided talking about the Rainbow Serpent for the most part but something pried at Shadow's mind and he seemed quite distant _. Morning Star,_ he thought. _What does that mean?_

"Something botherin' you, mate?" Maw chewed quietly.

"Oh, uh," Shadow took a sip of his wine, "Not really."

"You can talk to me about anything."

"We're having a nice time; I don't want to ruin it." He pushed the remainder of his food around his plate.

Maw cocked a brow and frowned.

"It's what the serpent said. Called you Morning Star."

"It was probably just a term of endearment."

"I don't agree. They called us the _Tria Prima_ and it worries me that it may be related to it."

"You _did_ say you thought I would dissolve the Tria Prima." Maw stood and cleared the plates.

Shadow stayed in his seat and watched the candle flicker. He heard the sounds of Maw preparing the desserts.

"The Rainbow Serpent is a creation god that appears in almost all Aboriginal creation mythos. She is associated with blood and water. She is both a giver of life and a being of great destruction when she feels like it." Maw came back in and placed the desserts on the table. "A cause of thunderstorms that rage across the landscape."

"It's a bit scary finding your gods are real, isn't it?"

"I won't lie, I nearly _shat_ myself when I saw Thalassa for the first time during the tsunami." Maw grinned, doing his best to maintain a positive attitude. "But it's quite nice knowing we were all right in a way. We indigenous folk don't have a lot to our cultures anymore for many reasons. I feel a bit powerful now even though my people, the Palawa, had a kangaroo as a creation god."

Shadow couldn't help but smile. "You're right."

Maw chewed his dessert carefully. "I simply believe it was a term of endearment the serpent used for me. Which is sweet, honestly."

"I'm a star." Shadow said. "I'm _the_ star, really, in the Tria Prima. I suppose that makes me the Evening Star?"

"It's the same planet! It just appears at sunset."

"Ah, I see." Shadow felt a little dumb.

"Okay, to be fair the Evening Star is also sometimes Mercury, which is small and fast like you. You're still _my_ star, love."

"And you're my Morning Star." The hedgehog teased back. "You really are a phenomenal chef."

"Thank you, Shadow. I'm happy to cook for you."

"You really don't have to."

"You can't live off of microwave burritos forever."

"I can and I _will_." Shadow pointed his fork at Maw. "You can quote me on that."

The thylacine chuckled. "Well, of course you could. I think I'd die of a heart attack if I didn't get my dietary requirements."

"Are you sick?" Shadow frowned. "Or is it your mouth?"

"No, no; I am an obligate carnivore. All thyacines are. Most of our diet is kangaroo, wombat and the occasional lamb. The less processed the better. Microwave burritos would probably kill me within a week."

"Well. Good thing hedgehogs aren't on that list."

Maw smirked, a deadly smile spreading across his face. "Only occasionally. What do hedgehogs eat?"

"Honestly? Mobini hedgehogs will eat _anything_ they can find and they often get stuck in carry out containers. They'll even eat baby mice if they must. We're scavengers and the saltier the better." He smiled warmly, slight wrinkles appearing in the corners of his eyes.

"Personally, I feel like if I eat meals like the ones you prepare regularly I may become intolerant of ramen and such."

Maw stood, clearing away the plates. "You're the most perfect creature on Mobius, Shadow. I'm sure you could survive just by eating old books."

Shadow went to Maw and helped him by drying the dishes. "I can go weeks without eating or drinking, but it's miserable. Food you like is a simple pleasure no one should be without."

"Now you see why I take such good care of you and my employees." Maw snuck a chaste kiss.

Shadow snickered and put the dishes away. "Ti-ti is the same way. She likes to present food she cooks or flowers she grew to show she loves you. She makes a really good honey cake."

"I should ask her to make some for me." Maw lightly flicked Shadow's hip with the corner of a dry towel.

Shadow's phone chimed. The message was from Hope asking how the meeting was going.

"I gotta go; the girls miss me."

"I'll see you bright and early tomorrow. Dress comfortably."

"I can't get much more comfortable than never wearing pants, Maw."

* * *

The sun had just barely risen over the edge of horizon. Tarni led the group out of the lair to the nearby barns containing the riding horses. The only sounds were the dry crunches of the soil beneath their boots.

"It's summer here in the outback." Tarni spoke to the group in an authoritative voice. "It's hot and dry. Keep in mind the symptoms of heat stroke and exhaustion. Remember… if your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth you are probably _mighty_ thirsty!"

Hope kept careful mental notes of what the woman was saying but Rouge, Shadow and Sheptilah seemed to be thinking about other things. Silver couldn't help but look around, marveling at the gorgeous landscape.

"Where is Doctor Eggman?" Tarni asked his wife.

"Oh!" Tilly said. "He wanted to stay inside where the air is cool." She glamorized her staff to be the size of a pen and put it behind her ear.

"I don't blame him," Tarni adjusted her hat, "But _you're_ from the desert; I'm sure you'll be 'right. It's him I'm worried about." She pointed to Shadow.

"Me?" The hedgehog looked at her.

"Yes, you. Your fur's black. You're gonna overheat. You wanna be like Miss Bat, Mister Fluffy or Miss Tilly. Their white fur and hair will make it much easier for them to be in the heat." Tarni shrugged.

"I'll be fine but I appreciate your concern."

The smell of farm animals and hay became stronger as they approached the barn but was not altogether unpleasant. The occasional chicken clucked by, minding her business but not really caring to watch where she was going.

"As for you all, even _you_ , Miss Tilly, you need to put on your sunscreen. The furries gotta put it on their ears, too. Sun's brutal, y'know?"

"I didn't bring any." Hope bit her lip.

"That's 'right, we got supplies for ya. Maw's loadin' them up now." Tarni's white teeth gleamed in the dim light.

"Tarni!" Maw turned around. He leaned one hand on the flank of a brown horse and the other on his hip. "Thought I heard you yammerin'."

"You're _perky_ this morning." Rouge scoffed at the thylacine.

"I've more coffee than blood, I promise you." He tilted his hat. Maw's clothing was nothing like his uniform but was just as expensive-looking as everything else he wore. A brown leather outback hat with holes for his ears to stick through made the blonde of his fur stand out. The shadow cast over his face by the brim did not take away the sparkle of his eyes that seemed to glow from within.

A light green flannel shirt with a white tee underneath, leather Blundstone shoes and tight-fitting jeans completed the outfit. A rifle was slung across his back just like Tarni. He kept a handgun holstered to one hip and a large hunting knife on his other.

" _Save a horse, ride a cowboy_ suddenly makes sense." Rouge muttered just loud enough for Shadow to hear. The hedgehog nodded in agreement.

"May I ask why you have guns?" Hope frowned.

"Poachers; but it's unlikely we'd run into any. Also, better safe than sorry when it comes to dingos and the like." He looked over the girl thoughtfully. "Would you feel more comfortable if we went _without_ weapons?"

Hope was flustered by this simple question. Rarely did anyone outside of Rouge and Shadow care about her comfort, let alone an Egg Boss. "I… it's fine. I understand you need to protect us." She nodded.

Maw gave Hope a sturdy helmet with a sun visor to wear. "I realize you're fifteen or so and that means you're all grown up but I'd feel more comfortable if you wore a helmet _instead_ of a hat, okay?" Maw grinned at the girl. "I'm giving you our best-behaved horse but if something should happen and you fall I don't want you to get hurt."

She hesitantly took the helmet, running her fingers over the hard plastic. "Thanks."

Tarni gave the rest of them cowboy hats, some more beat up than others. A few different farmhands brought out stock horses for each of them.

"I guess _we're_ chopped liver." Shadow joked to himself.

"If _you_ want a helmet then just ask." Maw stuck out his tongue. "I'd be more than happy to oblige _any_ of your wishes, Shadow."

Shadow huffed and looked away.

Amy raised an eyebrow at their interactions.

"This one's Alfonso." Tarni pointed to a brown and white horse. "He's a good boy, very sweet. This one's yours, Miss Hope."

"Oh, wow… his nose is so pink." She reached up and stroked the bridge of his nose. The horse nickered quietly, enjoying the affection. It was then she noticed the little Eggman Industries logos hidden among the fligree that decorated the saddle and reigns.

"You've all got plenty of water and other supplies in the saddle bags." Tarni pointed. "You can get your combination sunscreen and bug repellant from there."

"Sheptilah, this is your horse." Maw pointed to one with a black-spotted snowy coat. "His name is Pokey."

"He looks like me!" She giggled. "He's _gorgeous_."

Silver was given a pinto named Bojack, Rouge was given a black horse named Gunpowder and Shadow was given an all-white horse named Banshee.

"We're out of rideable horses," Maw clicked his tongue and looked at the barn, "The rest just aren't trained. Looks like you'll be riding with someone else, Amy."

"She can take my horse," Shadow was quick to suggest, "I have no need to ride. I can walk-"

"She can ride with me!" Tilly braided her hair to keep it out of her face. "I am fine with sharing." She put one leg into the stirrup and hurled the other over into the saddle and settled in. "Besides, Shads, you don't wanna be digging dirt and sand from your skates again."

Before Shadow could respond Tilly kept talking. "I would rather ride bareback, to be honest."

"It's harder on the horse to go without a saddle." Maw shrugged.

"Fair enough. I can see the appeal of saddles." She wiggled a bit. "Much easier to stay on. Wanna hop on up, Amy?"

"Yeah!" She raised her arm so Tilly could pull her up.

Shadow grit his teeth. It seemed he _was_ going to have to ride Banshee after all.

Amy held onto Tilly tightly, resting her cheek against the woman's shoulder blade.

"You not like horses or something?" Maw asked Shadow.

"Seems mean to make the horse carry me in what is sure to be a very hot place all day." Shadow lightly pat Banshee's flank. "Wouldn't she rather just hang out in the barn all day with her family?"

"Nah, they need the exercise and like going out to the brush. Trust me, if your horse is upset they will let you know."

Shadow frowned and hesitantly mounted the horse, not wanting Hope to miss out on the one thing she was looking forward to nor was he ready to leave Sheptilah unguarded. It was fine until he looked down and noticed how much higher he actually was. His legs clenched around the saddle, noticing his feet did not reach the stirrups. He feared if he moved so much as a millimeter he'd slide off.

Maw went over to Shadow and gently ran his hand down the hedgehog's leg from the knee, this act hidden behind the horse. He looked up at his lover and winked, adjusting the length of the stirrup so that his skate fit comfortably in it. He did the same on the other side in view of the others without the teasing touch.

After a quick riding lesson from Tarni the group took off with Maw in the lead on his palomino named Binky. Tarni followed from behind in a Jeep a comfortable distance away in case someone got sick and needed to be driven back. The day grew hotter as the sun traversed the sky, but the lack of humidity made for a comfortable heat.

Shadow found himself leaning forward, ears drooping and panting softly. He felt in the saddle bag for the canteen and took greedy sips of water from it. The beautiful scenery of acacia trees, saltbushes and the occasional bunch of wildflower blooming from the dark red earth barely distracted him from the sick feeling in his stomach caused by the constant rocking of being on horseback.

The others were having a great time, occasionally talking to their horses and each other and taking photos on their new phones.

"Am I the only one who _didn't_ know that they got married?" Amy asked.

"Yep." Silver laughed.

"Pretty much." Rouge grinned. She kept her wings neatly folded and out of the sun.

"Don't feel too bad, Amy," Maw said, "I did not find out until recently."

"Isn't your mouth hot?" The pink hedgehog asked him.

" _Excuse me?_ " His heart nearly leapt out of his throat.

"I mean, it's _metal_ , right? Isn't it really hot in the sun?" Amy shook her head.

"Not at all since I have skin over it. Sometimes the exposed pins in my cheeks expand in the heat and that can hurt." He grinned painfully. "It just feels as bad as braces. It's nothing a little aspirin can't solve."

"What _can_ you do with your mouth?" Rouge smirked.

Maw narrowed his eyes at her knowingly. He looked back at Shadow to see his reaction but noted the hedgehog seemed distracted and wasn't paying attention. He cocked a brow before turning back to the bat to answer her.

"I can open a sort of black hole in my mouth to swallow up what I need to. Everything ends up in a sort of void, but I don't like using it. It's highly experimental and _does_ hurt to use."

"You can't take a bite out of concrete?" Tilly joked.

"I _could_ but I would most likely just end up getting stuck."

"I imagine your teeth would slide out like dentures." Rouge adjusted the brim of her hat and applied more sunscreen to her ears.

Amy watched the thylacine closely. The way he kept looking back over his shoulder directly at the Shadow with worry made her wonder exactly _what_ he was worried about. He'd occasionally look at the others but kept returning to Shadow. _He's probably just making sure Shadow doesn't wander off on his own. He_ is _all the way in the back…_

She turned around so that her back was against Sheptilah's and kept an eye on Shadow. The dark hedgehog kept wiping his brow though there was no sweat and fidgeted with his hat.

Amy caught Maw's attention and nodded toward Shadow. Maw understood and clicked his tongue.

"Go on ahead," Maw said to Tilly, "Pokey knows to keep going straight." He turned his horse around and cantered over to Banshee to be next to Shadow.

"You're lookin' green around the gills, mate."

"I'm fine."

"No, it looks like you got heat exhaustion."

"I'm drinking." He shot Maw a cold look. "I am just a little queasy. Besides, if I _was_ sick Ti-ti would notice."

"Drink some more but slowly." The blonde warned. "How're you doing?"

"My ass is sore."

"Just you wait..." He said under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," he chuckled, "We're almost there, just hang on a little longer. I got something cute planned."

* * *

Hope was impressed by the level of care the animals were given, all guarded by well-trained corgis. Almost everyone employed was indigenous and spoke to each other in their native tongues. After exchanging some information, mostly that of the gold mine being closed, Maw was on his way with the group. He took them to a nearby clearing and revealed that he had planned a picnic.

Soft blankets spread across the grass under the dappled shade of an acacia tree. Delicious sandwiches and fruit sat in coolers with ice and bottled drinks.

"Oh, wow." Rouge was impressed. "Nice."

"Enjoy yourselves. Don't worry about the horses; let them graze. They'll come when called." Maw helped himself to some food.

"Feeling better, Shads?" Hope asked him.

"Yes, thank you. I think the heat got to me." He pulled a juice bottle from the cooler and drank it, feeling the cold liquid travel down his throat and into his stomach. The sensation nearly made him gag. He walked to the tree and sat at the roots, leaning against the trunk. The sweet taste of the juice quickly became a sticky, sour flavor in his mouth.

"I'm gonna go explore around a bit, then." Hope waved, walking away to go hang out with Silver and Rouge.

Amy spent a good while collecting bits of shrubs and seeds, borrowing Sheptilah's boline to do it.

Maw sat beside Shadow on the blanket and got comfortable, sandwich in hand. "Your rump still sore?"

" _Yes_. How do you ride horses all day?"

"You gotta rock _with_ the horse." Maw wiggled in demonstration. "You lean forward when the horse is moving back. I think you have a bad habit of gripping too tightly with your legs, too. When you're on top you gotta relax; let your core do the work and be confident."

"It looks like you're trying to make love to the picnic blanket, Maw."

The thylacine threw his head back and laughed.

"Why a picnic?" Shadow maintained a straight face.

"Gotta sneak in dates where I can." Maw took a greedy bite of his food. "Mmm… kangaroo on rye."

Amy, although far enough away to not be able to even read their lips, heard the laugh and turned to them. Sheptilah laid back in the grass and sighed with contentment.

"What's up with those two?" Amy asked the witch.

"They're friends. I know it seems weird but we all spent a lot of time together in space so naturally we've become agreeable."

"Shadow doesn't like _anyone_."

"You know that's not true."

"Yeah…" Amy moved her hair out of her face and went back to picking plants, occasionally sneaking glances at the two. "Maw must be something special if he can tolerate him."

Tilly picked a daisy and put it behind Amy's ear.

"You're really enjoying it out here." The pink hedgehog grinned.

"Yeah," Sheptilah's cheeks hurt from smiling, "Reminds me of home but… bigger. Hebat would have loved this place. She'd have loved _you_ , Amy."

"I'd have loved her, too." Amy frowned. "Hebat is with you in your heart and in Shadow's presence."

"You're right as usual, princess." She chuckled softly.

"Hey; I'm really happy for you and Eggman. You seem to really make each other happier." Amy scooted closer to her witch and started to unbraid her hair.

"Thank you. It's strange to think that I had to wait five thousand years to find my family." Sheptilah dug her toes in the dry, warm dirt. "I loved my moms of course, but… I never felt truly at home in the ziggurat. Here, I feel like I'm home wherever you all are. The Universe had to align in just the right way for this to happen."

"We're destined to be together." Amy divided up Sheptilah's hair and braided it in a fishtail pattern. She plucked flowers from around them and placed them in the silvery tresses.

Tilly closed her eyes and relaxed in the warm sunlight.

Maw picked up a piece of grass and put it between his teeth, watching the occasional wild butterfly float from flower to flower.

"Throw on some sequins and you're the spitting image of Roy Rogers." Shadow said.

"I like to think of myself as a blonde Johnny Cash, thank you very much."

" _But the meanest thing that he ever did was before he left, he went and named me 'Mawtthew._ " Shadow muttered the Johnny Cash song.

Maw's face turned sour. After a second he broke into laughter and lightly swatted at Shadow with his hat. "I'm gonna feed you to the crocodiles!"

Shadow chuckled.

"You know you have got a _gorgeous_ singing voice?"

"You really think so? You'll never hear me sing again."

"Want to go to a karaoke bar tonight?" Maw chewed on the blade of grass.

"What did I _just_ say?"

"It's good to see you smiling, Shadow." Hope walked up to the boys and sat between them.

"G'day, Miss Hope. Are you enjoying your time here?" Maw asked her.

"Yes, surprisingly." She crossed her legs and adjusted her shirt. "I guess… Eggman _has_ changed."

"To be truthful he has not changed at all. It's his _focus_ that has changed. Now that the focus is on the wiccaphages he hasn't had much taste for world domination." Maw tipped his hat.

"Oh." Hope said dejectedly. She looked down at the grass swaying at her feet, feeling foolish for being hopeful.

Shadow shot Maw a look before turning to Hope. "I'm glad you're having a good time here." He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Despite everything, yes, I am having a nice time." She looked at Shadow. "I want to take a picture of us."

"You and I?" Shadow's ear twitched.

"Yes. I want to remember today." She took her new phone from her pocket.

"I can take the photo for you!" Maw snapped his finger.

"Thanks," Hope handed him the device, "I really should get a case for it. I'm paranoid of dropping it and breaking it."

"I forgot to get you all cases for these." Maw got up and moved a bit away to get the photo. He kneeled down and turned the phone to the side. "Say _cheddar!_ "

Hope mustered up a smile but Shadow remained stoic.

"C'mon, Shadow. Please smile." Maw waited.

The hedgehog sighed and put his arm around Hope, letting a small smile creep across his face.

"There we go!" Maw snapped a picture. He looked at the phone and grinned. "This came out great! Excellent lighting!"

"Are you taking pictures? Get one of me!" Silver ran up to them. He threw up a peace sign and a goofy smile.

"Pictures, Tilly!" Amy dragged the human over.

In the end, Maw ended up taking and being in several photos. In one Sheptilah had him in a headlock and was giving him a noogie, in another his hat was covered in flowers Silver had dumped on him. Maw's favorite, however, was the one he snapped of Shadow when a butterfly landed on the hedgehog's nose.

* * *

Arabica was a handful when she wasn't sleeping in Eggman's lap. He was currently typing away at his laptop, shuttering some of his companies he no longer wanted. Rakushka Weapons Manufacturing was the first to go.

 _That should make her happy,_ he grinned. _And that's one less thing on my mind._

Arabica barked in her sleep, little stubs for legs going a mile a minute.

"Alright, that's enough." Eggman put her on the floor.

The puppy stretched and seemed to go back to sleep. He spied a pop-up ad showing happy couples on their honeymoon in Sydney, frolicking on the beaches and enjoying gourmet meals. He thoughtfully tapped his chin as he pondered this. _That could be me and my wife for a weekend_ , _but we'd have to go in disgu-_

His train of thought was cut off by Arabica chewing on his pants leg. She tried to pull him toward the door, growling playfully.

"Little doggy." Eggman groaned. "What do you want?" He moved his leg, dragging the dog a few inches across the floor.

"What is it?"

Arabica looked up at him, tongue hanging from the side of her mouth.

"Do you wanna go potty or something?"

She barked, getting excited with her nub of a tail wiggling in circles.

"Orbot! Cubot!" Eggman hollered. No response.

"They're charging," MARI beeped, "Just take her outside yourself. Get some sunflowers for your wife while you're at it."

"Sunflowers?"

"The field is _literally_ right outside."

"Fine." He needed the fresh air anyway. He scooped up the puppy and briskly walked to the nearby field. Arabica struggled to get free from his hand and fell to the soft ground with a squeak. She took off running to find a suitable place to relieve herself.

The sunflowers had wide, brown faces even though they were half-bloomed and stood proudly following the star across the sky. He inhaled deeply, enjoying the scent and shade of the crop. He had hoped they'd be at their peak but would have to settle for half-open flowers. Oh, to see the look on his wife's face when he presented her with an armful of sunshine.

He grabbed several stalks and snapped them. The plants were much thicker and heavier than anticipated, so he only took six.

"Arabica!" He called. No response. "Here, puppy!"

Still nothing.

Panic crept up his neck. Had he lost the dog? Surely an animal that small out here all alone would die in the heat or get picked off by some kind of bird.

"Arabic-" He turned around to see the dog was behind him the whole time and sitting patiently. She was so small he didn't see her behind his own foot.

"Thank God." He bent down and picked up the dog. "Don't do that! You scared the Hell out of me."

She panted softly and reached up with her paws on his cheeks and licked his face. She grabbed at his whiskers with her mouth, quietly growling as she chased her 'prey'.

He held her at arm's length. "Alright! Enough, doggy! We're going back inside. You are definitely _not_ joining us on our honeymoon."

* * *

Late that night Shadow found himself in Maw's room again. The thylacine struggled to unbuckle his belt with his lover hanging off of him, fumbling and tripping over his own feet.

Shadow kicked off his skates with a clatter and helped the thylacine unbutton his shirt. Maw grabbed the hedgehog and kissed him deeply, completely giving up on trying to undress himself. He now understood why so many Mobians went without clothes entirely.

He caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye and broke the kiss. There was a vase on his desk with a single sunflower in it.

"When did you have time to bring me a sunflower?" He asked Shadow between breaths.

"I didn't bring it." The hedgehog shrugged. "I don't care. Come on…"

"Hold your horses," Maw scoffed, " _You're_ antsy."

"Well, I…" He sighed, "It's hard seeing you all day without being able to touch you. The surprise picnic was a very nice gesture and I wanted to thank you for your thoughtfulness."

"And you're horny."

" _Yes_."

"I've created a monster."

"If only you could hear my thoughts." Shadow said coyly. He gripped the edge of Maw's shirt and pulled him toward the bed.

"Oh, no." Maw picked up Shadow and heaved him over his shoulder. "We're taking a shower first. We're both greasy with sunblock, sweat and dust and there's no way in Hell I'm letting us get on my fresh linens like _that_."

"A _shower?_ "

Maw felt for the door to his bathroom and opened it. He turned on the light then plopped Shadow on the cold sink and locked the door. His raging erection caught on his belt and was the only thing holding his pants up. Shadow's own stiff cock poked up from between his legs that were crossed at the ankles.

Maw slowly hooked his thumbs into the side of his jeans and pulled them down. Shadow stared wide-eyed with anticipation but then broke into hysterical laughter.

"What?"

"You have a stripe on your dick." He managed to choke out between wheezes.

Maw blushed and looked away. "I think it makes me look cool. Y'know, like a racing stripe."

"I'm sorry; I'm not making fun of you it's just... _unexpected_."

Maw rolled his eyes and turned on the shower, testing the temperature with his elbow. "Alright, come on in."

Shadow hesitantly stepped off the counter and removed his gloves, careful to not crush the SIM card still in it or Hebat's scale.

They found themselves in the steam of the shower lost in each other's body amid the comforting cologne of the body wash. Trails of red-tinged soap ran down their legs as they rinsed the day off of their tired bodies.

"Ass still sore?" Maw teased.

"Yeah," the hedgehog admitted, "Stupid saddle."

"Why didn't you wanna ride on the horse?"

"I'm… not very fond of heights."

"I see. I won't make you do it again." He rinsed the soap from his yellow fur.

"It was fun after I got the hang of it. Maybe we can do it again, just you and I."

"I'll keep that in mind." Maw turned off the water.

 _I can't believe I'm falling for him_ , they each thought of the other.

Maw stepped out and got towels for the both of them. "The day is catching up with me and I'm actually feeling really tired. Think we can just relax instead of fooling around?"

For a brief moment Shadow felt disappointment but shook it off. He wondered if he was only in it for the sexual gratification but then remembered how giddy he'd feel getting a simple chaste good night text from him. He smiled and nodded, drying off with the fluffy towel.

"I don't wanna be a cock tease," Maw rubbed his ears with a corner, "I just… need to catch up on my sleep. I didn't realize how deprived I was lately."

"Have I been keeping you up?" Shadow pulled on his gloves.

"No, not at all. Are you spending the night?"

"I really want to, but I probably shouldn't." He put on his socks and shoes. "Oh, Hell. I'll be right back; I'm going to go grab my stuff."

"Stuff?" Maw pulled on a clean set of pajamas.

"My toothbrush and the like."

"Hurry back, love." Maw yawned, hiding his gaping mouth behind a fist.

"Of course." Shadow teleported away.


	99. The Color Of My Dreams

Maw floated above the water that surrounded him, the tips of his toes barely submerged in the mirror-like surface that reflected the clouds above. He was as naked as the day he was born and just as confused.

 _Where am I?_ He thought. _Is this a dream? It feels… so real._ He looked at his hands, flipping them over and studying the lines in his palms for answers. He hesitantly stepped forward, ripples forming where his feet lay. They spread outward infinitely, crossing into each other like hatch marks. He swallowed hard, heart thudding in his chest like a drum. _I've never had a lucid dream before._

"Don't panic; you'll wake up." Shadow's voice rang in his head. The silvery water drained away to reveal a white sand beach and the hedgehog, also naked, sitting on a dune. Shadow looked over his shoulder to the thylacine and grinned.

Now with his toes sinking into the sand, Maw walked forward at a slow pace to see his lover staring ahead at the sea that sparkled like a city skyline.

"What is this place?" Maw asked, surprised by his voice slightly echoing. He sat in the cool sand and sighed softly.

"You're dream walking, babe. You're in my vision." Shadow placed his hand on Maw's.

"So this is real?"

"As real as you want it to be."

"So why are we naked?"

"Naked is the default." Shadow smiled. "Besides, it's not like I'm not mostly naked anyway."

"What does it mean? That I can dreamwalk?"

"It means we're close enough that we can. Do you want to leave?"

"No, I'd like to stay." Maw's eyes sparkled.

They found themselves on a sun-drenched tropical atoll waist-deep in warm, glittering water. Even in the dream world Shadow wore his power suppressant rings. To Maw it appeared like the dark hedgehog broke free from ornate fetters and carried the cuffs with him, unable or unwilling to remove the remnants of captivity. What did happen to him all that time on the Ark? Was he cruelly experimented on like his sister was or was he asleep for it? How many copies of him died before this one survived incubation?

"When I was younger I often wondered why I was born." Shadow spoke as he dragged his hand through the water, the rings on his wrist glinting in the light. "What my life's purpose was."

Maw jumped, wondering if the hedgehog could read his mind in this place. "What brought this on?"

"Let me explain..." Shadow raised hand and waited a moment before snapping his fingers.

The ocean fell away and was replaced with the cold, dark and sterile laboratory Shadow was born in. The two were now wearing their usual clothes but were unseen by the figures that walked into a room.

"This is a memory, so you cannot interact." Shadow explained.

Black Doom and Gerald were talking to each other. The hulking alien dwarfed the humble old man still in his slippers. The figures spoke to each other in harsh, garbled language. The giant alien floating off the ground pointed briskly at the newborn hedgehog floating in the tube. His robes fluttered as he gestured to his face and then back to Gerald.

The scientist picked up a clipboard and showed Black Doom images of Mobian hedgehogs and pointed to the tube. He flipped the pages that had pictures of other Mobian species including a dog, a lizard and a bear.

The illusion broke into pieces and reformed into a new one. Infant Shadow was taking his first steps. Wobbly and uneven, he fell more than once but got back up without crying. Gerald knelt on the ground and held his arms open, encouraging the hedgehog to keep coming.

Maw grinned broadly. "You were so cute! A few days old and already walking; impressive."

"I was determined to walk. I learned by watching people move about: one foot in front of the other."

It rapidly cut to another memory: Gerald struggling to give the tiny hedgehog a bath in the sink. All Shadow wanted to do was splash and play and did not like having his spikes touched. He swiped his hand across the bubbles to shape them and would pop the larger ones with his fingers.  
Little Maria was trying to help by offering a rubber duck to the hedgehog. She stood on the very tips of her toes, barely able to see over the edge of the sink. Shadow looked at it curiously and leaned in. Maria squeezed it, making the duck quack. The hedgehog was startled and began to wail.

"I'm sorry!" The little Maria cried. She rapidly squeezed the duck to make it squeak over and over again.

"To this day, I still hate rubber ducks." Shadow joked, shaking his head.

Baby Shadow quickly went from crying to laughing and took the toy in his little hands.

They cycled through more memories. Shadow learned to read, write and speak with Maria's help.

"This book!" Toddler Shadow held up a picture book with textures that corresponded to the illustrated animals. He spent a long time rubbing the tips of his fingers across the different fabrics. The hedgehog's page was bumpy but not sharp.

"I'm fuzzy." Baby Shadow said, rubbing his arm. "This book is silly."

"You aged fast." Maw noted.

"I skipped ahead by a few years."

In another memory Shadow was coloring with crayons. He held a blue one too tightly and it snapped in half. Maria frowned, picking it up. She peeled the paper wrapper off so that it was bare.

"Now we can share the blue one!"

He grinned, showing some of his baby teeth had fallen out. Baby Shadow held up his drawing: him, Maria and Gerald hand-in-hand surrounded by stars. "I finished it!"

One after another, Shadow revealed tender recollections that became grim as he aged. The scientists poked and prodded both him and the ailing Maria with needles. Blood tests, physical exams, and various computer scans became commonplace for the two of them but for different reasons.

As Maria grew weaker Shadow grew stronger. He was subjected to violent tests, forced to spar with robots and soldiers aboard the ARK. Shadow was often isolated as he was exposed to different diseases.  
"Stop! This hurts!" The adolescent Shadow cried. "I don't want to do this anymore!" He struggled against the restraints.

An old scientist looked at him with cold eyes. "This is for Maria. We must study how your body fights off the pathogens so we can apply the same technology to save her."

"That's not what you're doing! You're just stabbing me with things!"

"Yes, it's a big needle and you are a little hybrid. You will live."

The edges of the memory softened into a blur before dissolving into the glittering night sky.

"No matter how much I worked or suffered It didn't matter. At the end of the day she was still getting sicker."

They came to the day before Maria's murder. She was feeling well enough to walk around and sat in her room by the large glass window. The stars shone a little more brightly in her presence. Shadow kneeled on the bed beside her and blew on the glass, fogging it. With his fingertip he traced the constellations in the condensation.

Maria exhaled on the glass, barely able to do so with enough force to fog it.

"You're getting quieter as you get older." She said between coughs.

"I'm just thinking about a lot." He blew on the glass for her.

She smiled and traced a heart in the fog. "What do they do to you all day?"

"Science stuff," he avoided the truth, "Like testing my reflexes."

Then came the memory of them running from the GUN soldiers firing at them.

"That's all for now." Shadow made the memories vanish. "You're waking up."


	100. The Way You Want Me

Maw's phone alarm beeped. He rolled over and switched it off, curling back up around Shadow. He rested his chin on the back of his boyfriend's head, completely trusting that the hedgehog wouldn't stab him in the chest with his spines.

"What if I just quit my job and stay in bed all day?" He mumbled to himself.

Shadow nodded. "It's too early."

"I _have_ to get up before Lord Eggman gets up so I'm ready to serve him."

"Stay here and serve _me_ instead."

"Don't talk like that or you might just end up between my thighs, hedgehog."

"I meant just stay here with me a little longer. It's so lonely during the day."

Maw buried his face in Shadow's spines and gently stroked his ear. "So… dreamwalking, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Is it possible to make love there? I wonder how that would affect our bodies in the real world..."

Shadow's face grew hot. "I… I don't know. Probably." He curled up a bit further but was careful to keep his spines flat so he didn't skewer Maw.

The thylacine's hand went from Shadow's ear to his shoulder, down his arm and over his hip. "Maybe… I _should_ serve you. To make up for last night, at least."

Shadow gasped softly but allowed Maw's hand to dip between his thighs.

The blonde groaned softly as he massaged the hedgehog's groin, encouraging the hidden organ to come out. It did not take much prodding for the erection to stand at full attention.

Shadow was helpless in his boyfriend's skilled hands. Starting from the base and working his way to the tip Maw rubbed Shadow's shaft with an achingly slow pace.

The thylacine moaned softly into Shadow's ear and grinded his own stiff cock against the hedgehog's rear.

"I'm so grateful for you," Maw whispered, "That you let me touch you like this. You're so perfect..."

Shadow's ears burned. "What? What do you mean?"

"You make me feel grounded…" Maw moved closer, his erection pressed flat against Shadow's tail. With his free hand he shifted his arm to be in the crook of the hedgehog's neck and traced his lips with a fingertip.

Shadow fruitlessly bit his tongue to keep from moaning. Small pleasured chokes escaped the lips Maw's finger traced the outline of.

"I could see myself spending many happy years with you," the thylacine admitted, "Going on adventures together and doing wonderful things. I didn't know my life was so boring until you came into the picture."

"How can you be bored? You're an Egg Boss." Shadow playfully nipped Maw's fingertip.

The thylacine bucked his hips against Shadow's backside. "An Egg Boss that's largely been forgotten."

The heat created between their bodies was the purest and most comfortable warmth they had felt in a very long time.

"You keep… chipping away at my innocence." Shadow moaned. "It's like you're… peeling away dead layers of me."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"If you stop I will bite your finger off." Shadow said with a laugh.

Maw swallowed thickly, feeling his face burn with lust and slight embarrassment. "I remember the feeling of being new to this kind of thing; new to the touch of another in such a sacred way. Being the first to hold you like this is a precious role."

"You're… romanticizing it." Shadow took hold of Maw's free hand with both of his.

"Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I romanticize these moments? Your first kiss, your first boyfriend, your first whatever else. I have to set the standard." Maw chuckled. "I want every touch you feel from me to be something you treasure."

" _The standard_ ," Shadow snickered, "As if I'd bother with anyone else but you."

"I apologize for being mushy. I get this way when I'm intimate and my mouth isn't full." Maw deeply inhaled Shadow's scent.

"At least I know you liked me _before_ you knew I'm a virgin; so it's not some kind of fetish."

"I backed off, if you remember."

"For all of ten seconds."

"You, in that tight space suit, were _very_ persuasive." The blonde's heart pounded in his chest.

Shadow wriggled in Maw's grip, feeling the tension build up in his muscles. "I'm so close…"

Maw let go and moved away.

"Wait," Shadow whined, "Where are you going?"

The hedgehog got his answer when Maw pulled him by the thighs to the edge of the bed, letting Shadow's legs dangle. The thylacine got on his knees and took the member into his mouth.

"Ah!" Shadow sat up with surprise.

"I figured I'd shut myself up with your cock in my mouth." Maw went back to bobbing his head on the organ, applying gentle suction as he did so.

"What… what about you?" Shadow's brain was so clouded with lust he had difficulty forming sentences.

Maw shook his head. He took hold of Shadow's ass with his hands and squeezed.

Only a minute or two passed before the hedgehog was losing control. Every hot little moan and twitch of his body made it clear he was close to orgasm. "I'm gonna come. I..."

Maw pulled away. "Would… you like to come on my face?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm about to take a shower anyway." Maw's brows were upturned and his lips pursed in a slight pout.

"I, uh." He stared wide-eyed at his eager lover. "Isn't that kind of _vulgar?_ "

Maw smirked, still pumping with his hand. "I suppose but I don't mind if you mark your territory."

Shadow's brow twitched slightly.

"Would you rather I swallow?"

Shadow's cheeks were now as red as the stripes on his body. "I don't have a preference."

"Just try not to get it in my ears."

" _I_ can't exactly aim the damn thing if _you're_ holding it." Shadow gripped the bed sheets, biting his lip.

Maw laughed. "Good point." A few more hard strokes and he could feel Shadow was ready to come. Maw instinctively closed his eyes and let the cum spray across his face in tune with the twitches of Shadow's cock. He felt the warm load drip down his forehead and over his left eye, which he kept shut. He popped open his right eye and grinned at his extremely flustered lover.

A bit dribbled over his cheek and, without hesitation, Maw licked the errant fluid away. He then leaned in and licked off what little was left on the semi-flaccid organ.

"You gotta eat more fruit, Shadow. At least drink more water. It's like a salt lick."

"Hmph!" The hedgehog turned away, cheeks redder than any ripe tomato. "So obscene." He panted softly, trying to catch his breath.

"Shower time!" Maw chuckled.

Shadow stood beside Maw as the thylacine got the shower ready. On an urge, Shadow leaned in and licked a small bit of the semen still left on the blonde's face and cringed.

"Blech!"

"I told you it was salty."

Shadow ran his tongue under the water and grimaced.

* * *

The sunrise peeked through the window, a waking beam falling across Ivo's face. He opened his eyes and looked at his wife who was still deeply asleep. Her silver tresses covered much of her face but he could still see the dusting of freckles across her brown skin that seemed to glow in the morning light.

He loved the way her nose crinkled and her lips moved in her sleep. He wondered who she could be talking to in her dreams.

Her long, white eyelashes against her curved eyelids made them stand out like little crescent moons. In the back of his mind he never liked the heavy khol she'd line her eyes with out of habit. In the early days of their relationship he'd get angry at the smears of eyeliner on his bedding. On the nights he slept alone he would miss the warmth and dirty pillowcases.

 _My wife._ He watched her curiously. _My beloved wife._

He gingerly brushed her hair out of her face, careful to not wake her. She stirred and snuggled up against him, sighing quietly as she did so. He knew she was still deeply asleep by the rapid movement of her closed eyes.

 _I would destroy entire galaxies for you if you asked, but I know you would never. You're too gentle. You make me move bugs out of the house instead of killing them. Even the pests in the garden get escorted away._ Every worm and slug is gingerly moved out of the way because she knows she is the invader disturbing them.

He loved the way she held apples with both hands when she ate them. He liked the way she would do things herself before resorting to magic and he enjoyed the delicious food she'd make for him.

Sheptilah groaned and opened her eyes. "Good morning." She smiled.

His face flushed and he got butterflies in his stomach.

"What?" She giggled. "Why are you blushing?"

"Because I'm so in love."

She kissed him, nearly missing his lips in her sleepy haze. He drew her into his arms and peppered her throat with chaste pecks here and there. They made love with her on top, yawning and stretching between bucks of her hips.

"You're so cute." Ivo said between soft moans. He squeezed her hips, pulling and pushing her back and forth.

"I'm getting used to rising with the sun." She stuck out her tongue playfully. "I love you."

"I love you, too."


	101. It's Oh So Quiet

Maw glanced at his phone and grunted. "Well, it's six now. I can't make us a good brekky." He quickly ran a towel over his fur to dry off before hurriedly pulling on his pants. He caught his foot in the leg and fell forward and would've bashed his face on the edge of the sink had Shadow not caught him.

"You are _clumsy_." Shadow righted him. "Relax.

"Thanks for saving my life. Again."

"How would you function without your pretty face?"

Maw pressed his fingers under his chin in a princess-like fashion and batted his eyelashes. "Gee! I don't know! I think I would just _die_ if I couldn't be pretty anymore." He stopped and snickered. He moved briskly to his room and pulled out a fresh uniform from the closet which was hidden in the wall.

Shadow likewise put on his sparse clothing and made his way to the door. Just as he was reaching for the knob there was a knock.

"Maw?" A female voice called.

It was Rouge on the other side.

Shadow opened the door a crack. When he saw she was alone he quickly pulled her in.

Maw adjusted the buttons on his clothing. "G'day, Miss Rouge. What brings you here? Can I get you something to drink?"

"Oh, no, thank you. I couldn't find my partner so I figured he'd be here." She instantly picked up that they had both just showered and smelled of the same body wash, therefore likely showered _together_.

Not to mention Shadow's still-flushed cheeks and Maw's extremely chipper demeanor. The bat felt a twinge of jealousy in her gut but ignored it.

"Is something wrong?" The hedgehog fluffed his spines.

"Yes and no," Rouge began, "It seems Silver has gotten severely sunburnt from yesterday's activities and cannot move. He looks like a moldy tomato."

Maw snickered. "Poor bastard. I warned him to put on the sunscreen several times yesterday. Does he need first aid?"

"Yes, which is why I came looking for Shadow." Rouge's wings twitched with impatience. "He would like to be healed."

"Fine. See you later, Maw." Shadow left without a fuss or kissing his boyfriend goodbye.

After a moment of walking the deserted halls Rouge finally addressed the elephant in the room. "So you are already sleeping with him? So much for not moving too fast." Her words carried a hint of bitterness.

Shadow kept a straight face but could do nothing to prevent the reddening of his cheeks and ears. "I literally slept with him, nothing more." He admitted. "I can only deal with Silver's snoring so long before I snap and smother him with a pillow."

"Don't lie to me." Rouge narrowed her eyes.

"You seem upset."

They entered the cold, dim stairwell.

"Of _course_ I'm upset. The last thing I need is for you to end up hurting yourself by not taking your time with your first relationship. Normally you are so cool and calculating but suddenly it feels like you're just… acting on impulses. At least promise me you're being safe and using protection."

Shadow stopped and looked at her, squinting. "Rouge; _nothing happened_."

She crossed her arms and frowned, staring at him dead in the eye.

The stairwell amplified their silence, making the only sound their stiff breathing. After a moment Shadow spoke in a deep, gravelly tone. "It's none of your business, Rouge."

"Shadow, you're my best friend. I'm just concerned." She pointed to her ears. A bead of sweat dripped down her forehead. "I could _hear_ you. You're being reckless in a way that can't be easily fixed if something goes wrong."

"You heard wrong." His chest tightened with anxiety. _Maybe she's right, maybe I do need to relax._

She let her arms drop and she let out a shaky sigh. "You've been through a lot. I mean, a lot. I just don't want you to take one of the first good things you've had too far too fast and end up ruining it for yourself. I hardly know this thylacine but I _do_ like him. And, not for nothing, but I'm a little jealous you've found someone good enough to keep your attention and make you happy."

Shadow's expression softened.

Rouge swallowed and continued. "To find someone that won't judge you for who you are or for who you were, someone charismatic and intelligent and most of all someone who is worth more to you than a pile of jewels. I may never have that."

"Why do you think that?"

"It's just the nature of being a secret agent and spy. Nobody _really_ trusts you and your future is not guaranteed."

"Besides the fact that no one has a promised tomorrow, _I_ trust you."

"Yes, but you are my _friend_ , not a romantic interest. You're like a weird big brother to me."

"I mean, Rouge, I trust you. Hope trusts you, Omega, Sonic, Amy, et cetera. Everyone you care about cares about you."

"You're right, my _friends_ trust me, but my blood family doesn't. GUN doesn't trust me anymore. You have family to fall back on, I don't. Also, I won't lie; I am afraid for you."

"How so?"

"We've been through this, Shadow. Maw's an _Egg Boss_. Given half the chance Tower would have a bullet put in his skull without hesitation."

Shadow smirked. "Tower threatened to kill me a few days ago. It's _not_ news."

Rouge let her eyes drop to the shiny heart-shaped tips of her boots. "You're right. Maybe I'm just upset because I don't see you as much."

Shadow reached for her and rested his hand on her cheek. This unprecedented act of intimacy nearly made her jump out of her skin as she was not used to the dark hedgehog being affectionate to anyone but Hope and _maybe_ a Chao.

"I'm not going anywhere. My primary duties are to Team Dark, always. You will always come first and you are my family. I appreciate your concern, Rouge, and you're right; I may be moving too quickly with my boyfriend. You can't blame me for being excited to have these new experiences."

She looked at him, teal eyes meeting ruby.

"But nothing significant has happened. I'm still _unplundered_ , as you put it."

She exhaled through her nose sharply, the sound turning into a giggle.

"What's so funny?"

"You. You're funny. It sounds silly when you say it that way with a very serious expression."

"I guess it does." A gentle smile graced his lips. "You are a very annoying little sister, you know that?"

"It's my job!" She winked. She drew him in for a hug, careful to not scratch herself on his spikes.

Shadow broke the hug. "Do you _really_ need to know what all happened?"

Rouge squealed. "I love juicy gossip!"

"I'll kill you if you tell anyone."

"You'd have to catch me first." She snickered. "Of course I won't tell anyone."

Shadow cupped his hand around her ear and whispered: "Sometimes we hold hands."

"Unbelievable!" She lightly swatted his shoulder.

"Let's go see poor Silver." Shadow continued on. "He must be peeling like an onion."

Said white hedgehog was not having a good morning, to say the least. The entire front side of his body was red and inflamed, giving his fur a slight pink hue in the thinnest parts. The top half of his face was protected by the hat, but the bottom half was burned in a perfectly straight line across his chin.

"It hurts to live." The hedgehog wheezed.

"Maw _told_ you to put on sunscreen." Shadow shook his head.

"I did! I thought my fur would block out the sun and I forgot about my ears…" Silver's whole body was burning. "Please help me."

Shadow scoffed, took off his glove and pressed his entire hand on Silver's face to muffle his protests. He healed the white hedgehog near instantly.

"Better?"

"Thank you!" Silver sat up and touched his face. "Ah, I _hate_ the sun!"

"You're welcome." He pulled his glove back on.

"So! What are we doing today?" Silver's smile took up his face.

"Hm." Shadow rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You should put on a hefty amount of sunscreen and recon the area to make sure we're still safe."

"I'll help." Rouge offered. "Two fliers are better than one."

* * *

Sonic played on his phone as he swung in his hammock. The sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the seagulls crying nearly lulled him to sleep. Bored out of his mind he rolled onto his stomach and groaned.

"Maybe I'll go see the twins," he muttered to himself, "Play some volleyball."

He suddenly found himself wrapped up in his hammock like a fish in a net. "Hey!" He attempted to cut himself free but before he was able to he hit the ground with a hard thud, spitting out blades of grass.

He opened his eyes to see he was in the Marble Garden. Tall spires and roads carved from the native marble stone in orange, beige and purple were hidden under thick carpets of grass, weeds and ivy. Wild birds sang in the fruit trees that dotted the landscape.

"What's the big idea!?" Sonic struggled against the hammock.

"Hiya, Sonic!" Charmy waved at him.

"Charmy?" The hedgehog sat up.

Vector unraveled Sonic from the hammock. "We have to talk to you and this is the only safe location to do so."

"What do you want?"

"Where is Shadow?" Espio revealed himself.

"I don't know. I was intentionally not told where they were going and even if I knew I _wouldn't_ tell you." Sonic stood and crossed his arms.

"And you _shouldn't_ ," Espio said, "Even if you did know."

"We have a message for him from a GUN informant." Vector held out a sealed manila envelope. "We brought you here via warp ring because your island and other known Egg Bases are under constant surveillance from cloaked Beetles."

"Oh? And what message is _that?_ "

"It's confidential and sealed. We don't know what it says only that he needs the message." Espio tugged on the edge of his glove. "We're sworn to secrecy to protect our informant. All we can tell you is that they are worried for Team Dark's safety."

"I will summon the witch. She can deliver the parcel for him." Sonic fished the witch orb from his sock and held it in his fingers. He concentrated, saying her name three times.

After a moment she landed in the grass, looking around. "Where in the world…?"

"Marble Garden." Sonic answered. "Hey, Tilly."

"Hi, guys." She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

"We have a package for you to give to Shadow." Vector handed it to her.

She took the envelope and opened it. Inside were papers with typewritten messages on them in a language she did not understand.

"Mostly looks like junk. Who is it from?" She flipped through the pages and came across what looked like blank sheets.

"Confidential. Shadow and Rouge will know." Espio looked her over.

"You should know that GUN tried to hire us to hunt you guys down!" Charmy flew up to her face. "We said no!"

"We don't back-stab our friends." Vector nodded. "Even the ones associated with Eggman."

"Won't that make you all a target since you said no?" Her brow furrowed.

"Yes, which is why we are trying to be as cautious as possible. Now go."

"You should know that Tower threatened to have Shadow executed. None of you are safe from GUN."

Sonic put his arms behind his head and struck a carefree pose. "Nobody with three brain cells to rub together trusts them on a whole."

Tilly put the contents back in the envelope and opened a portal to the Blossoming Snow, the cold frosting the grass at her feet. "Thank you. Summon me if you need anything."

"Be safe, okay? And smile now and again."

Tilly grinned, flashing rows of sharp teeth. "Like this?"

"That is creepy." The chameleon grimaced.

The portal closed behind her, leaving the rest where they stood. The Chaotix then left in a hurry with the warp ring.

"Wait, how am I getting home!?" Sonic shouted. "It's gonna take forever for me to run all the way back!"


	102. Sweet Caroline

**This chapter has mild gore.**

* * *

Shadow took the envelope and inspected it carefully for anything like suspicious powders or tiny trackers. He instructed Tilly to go back to Eggman and wait. Once satisfied it was safe, he brought the envelope to the others.

Team Dark sat on the floor in the room they shared with the papers spread out. Shadow pawed through them suspiciously. "Well, most of this is junk from years ago."

"Except this." Hope picked up the sheet with the weird writing on it. "I don't think this is a Lorem Ipsum type thing." Some of the letters were slightly smeared, providing evidence that it was written on a manual typewriter.

KcdbudhosickptuclisiduiktbtqlhpmmpzbecdykctubqtqphopxmposickmtkypodqfqnqusseuqubposiffbidphapmqfnucuffhusikuclsidpmctmrkisytsqhovbxxotsttutmmhcliysqcuabsbigmtsidubplmacqugkocopsihokrocbufqnqffhokbzdqhmtdkhmqfocyyfceaecdykccadqhoimgksxadryhohrCavbtw

"That's because it's a cipher. It's a pretty basic-looking one, too." Rouge took the page. "The commas tell me that the grammar marks aren't changed."

"Can you interpret it?" Hope raised a brow.

"Yes, but it will take time. Get me a pencil, please." Rouge snapped her fingers.

Shadow got up and handed her a pen.

"I just have to figure out what the key is to decipher it." Rouge flipped over another paper to use the back of it to write notes. The first few she tried didn't work. She quickly became frustrated but tried not to show it. "It isn't Railfence or Caesarean…"

"Oh!" Rouge straightened up. "It's a Playfair cipher. Looks like a typical tableau, too. No letter J. I'll try it without a keyword first."

She drew up a five by five grid, putting in every letter but J. After a while she came up with the following:

Hecate in the house of the third sun followed by the stars unknown on the horizon

a tall structure on the edge of collapse seeks the pantheon brought to ruin

warriors strong and true search for the temple but find nothing

under all seeing eyes foreign lands shaded by the beating of insect wings

Be wary

"It's a riddle." Hope said with disappointment.

"He-kate?" Shadow scratched his chin. "He-sa-tay? I'm sure I've read that somewhere before." He whipped out his phone and texted Maw.

"Clearly, the tall structure on the edge of collapse is Tower." Rouge chewed on the end of the pen. "And this is definitely from Boris. Nobody else from GUN would dare do this."

"We never deserved him as a director." Shadow said quietly. "He's too kind."

"I miss him and Mrs. Cabbot." Hope brushed her hair out of her face.

"Pardon my intrusion." Maw leaned in the doorway. "It's pronounced Heh-ka-tee. Hecate is the Greek Goddess of the night, magic and ghosts among other things. Must be a codeword for our Empress."

"The third sun is Eggman." Amy came in. "He is the grandson of Gerald, so that means he is the third. The house being the family. The third house of the zodiac governs over communication." She sat beside Shadow with her hands folded neatly in her lap. "And represents family, communities, things like that."

"Full house." Shadow said, making eye-contact with the thylacine.

"I thought I'd call in Amy for a little help," Maw winked, "She knows more about this than I do."

"From now on we should all probably remain inside the base. Don't leave without an escort." Maw's tail moved back and forth with anxiety. "I'll have to put out plainclothes guards along the perimeter and do more to hide the base with the landscape. The right holograms could make it appear like a mesa…" The thylacine mostly was thinking out loud, speaking faster than usual.

Shadow stood and put his hand on Maw's shoulder. "Don't freak yourself out; we'll all be fine."

"It's my _job_ to make sure you are all safe and happy. I have almost a thousand individuals to protect." The blonde's eyebrow twitched slightly. He wanted to hug his boyfriend but knew that he couldn't in front of Hope and Omega.

Shadow took his hand back. "Where's Eggman? We should talk to him."

"He's busy in his home office with his wife." Maw shook his head. A pause, and then: "Not in _that_ way. He recently closed one of his gun manufacturing companies."

"Why would he do that?" Hope stared intently.

"I believe it upset our Empress that he was manufacturing weapons recently used in a school shooting; so he closed it as a result." Maw adjusted the buckles on his uniform. "Please note that nobody was killed in said shooting. It was handled quickly by local law enforcement."

"Hmm…" Hope looked away.

" _Rakushka Weapons Manufacturing?_ " Shadow said. "He closed an entire company overnight?"

"For the sake of his wife, no less." The bat adjusted the papers.

"He deserves no praise." Omega said. "It is an empty gesture. He could close his entire operation but refuses. Maybe someday the tall meatbag with too much hair will realize this."

"Once again, Omega is the voice of reason." Hope nodded.

"That incident happened when you guys were on the station, right?" Rouge piped up.

"Yeah." The hedgehog nodded. "I wonder if GUN knows that's one of the companies under Eggman's belt."

"Probably not unless they have administrative moles on the EggNet." Maw shrugged. "We aren't even privy to the full breadth of his companies."

* * *

The warm, tingly flavor of whiskey trailed down Tower's throat like a slow-burning fire. The silence of his sterile office was broken only by the ice cubes clinking against the sides of his glass. He was quite bored, laying his cheek on his fist, elbow on the armrest of his seat. With his free hand he let the last drops of alcohol swirl in the cup he held by the rim with his fingertips.

Cabbot sat across from him, looking at maps of the known Egg Bases.

"Without the wiccaphage activity it is proving difficult to track Team Dark and Eggman. You know them best," Tower said, "Where would they hide?"

"They could be anywhere in the world. They may even be off-world. They were in space not that long ago." Boris made notes in the margins of the maps, circling certain areas. "Can't you track them by the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Some of the Emeralds were traced to Sonic on Seaside Island. As for the rest we cannot find them. We've been surveying him closely but he isn't doing much of anything but sleeping all day and playing video games all night."

"Why would Eggman allow _Sonic_ to hold some of the Emeralds?" Tower asked rhetorically.

"Sir, I hate to admit it but maybe the witch was telling the truth. Maybe they really _are_ working together to stop the wiccaphages. That could be why Sonic has a few of the stones in his possession… to prove that Eggman isn't planning anything with them."

"Your judgement of her actions is clouded by the fact that she healed your _wife_." Tower set down his glass and poured himself a little more whiskey. He watched the golden liquid trail over the melting ice cubes like rivulets. "Eggman has 'worked' with Sonic before. The hedgehog's naivete is not an indicator of the Doctor's trustworthiness. We also know that the witch has no respect for the lives of others unless it suits her fancy."

Boris sighed heavily. "I just don't want to believe that Team Dark would be traitors."

"You would be surprised at what trusted people are capable of doing." Abraham squinted at Boris. "Shadow has acted like this before; this isn't unprecedented behavior."

Cabbot did not look up from the map. He chose to bite his tongue and only grunt in agreement. "We know they've abandoned the bases at Cool Edge Zone, Seaside Island and Castle Snottingham. Thunderbolt's base is twice destroyed and they would not risk going to the Northamer base as it is too small. The Efrikan and Midestan bases seem the most likely for hideouts."

"What of Conquering Storm, Abyss, Battle Lord Kukku XV and Wendy Naugus?"

"Our intelligence says they're still decommissioned and overall not part of the Empire any longer, but we continue to surveil their known locations. Wendy is also still in the other Zone with no way out."

"Are there any other Egg Bosses, old or new?"

"Not that we know of, sir."

"Have the bounty hunters we've commissioned check out Efrika and Midesta." Tower sat up, his joints groaning as he did so. "I want a plainclothes team dispatched to every major city around the world and I want facial recognition software running at all times when possible. If you spot any known Egg Militia I want them brought in _alive_. If this doesn't suss out the happy couple we will resort to other measures."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Eggman stood in an empty office beside Maw in front of a large, round table. Team Dark, including Omega, sat in chairs while Silver opted for leaning against the wall in the corner with his arms crossed. Amy and Sheptilah sat at the head of the table.

"Cloaked Gold Beetles are watching all the known bases and the island." Rouge underlined that part of the riddle with her finger.

"Those are the Beetles that can teleport, yes?" Maw asked.

"Correct." The bat nodded. "They're very difficult to hit."

"And we're being tracked by bounty hunters." Sheptilah groaned. "This is very annoying."

"I want a _complete_ lockdown." Eggman said with his chest puffed out. "Nobody in this room leaves the base."

"Typical Eggman." Omega said. "Scared of everything. We will keep you safe even if we don't want to."

" _We want to_." Shadow said to Omega.

"Not that _I_ want to." The robot corrected himself.

"I trust you about as far as I can throw you, Omega," Eggman locked eyes with the robot, "And I know you feel the same way-"

"I _can_ throw you, meatbag."

Eggman's mustache bristled. "Let me finish!"

"Hurry up." The robot chirped.

" _And I know you feel the same way_ , but we need to work together to protect each other, alright? Like it or not this is my family at risk."

"More or less." Hope spat.

" _You're_ family, too. Don't think for a hot second GUN is going to show you mercy just because you're a teenage girl." Eggman peered at her from over the rim of his glasses, ember eyes slightly visible.

A chill ran through the girl, freezing her in place.

"They wouldn't." Rouge said softly to reassure the girl.

 _They might_ , Shadow admitted to himself. The full breadth of his actions was beginning to sink in. _Maria was only a little younger._

"We will not let it come to that. It's me they want, right? Should they find us I will surrender." Tilly ran her fingers over the flower on her staff.

"No, you will not." Rouge stood. "It's not just you they want, they want all of us. Tower cannot stand not having full control over a situation and he does not negotiate with terrorists. As far as he is concerned, you are terrorists. If he's hired bounty hunters it's likely they want us dead _or_ alive, and it's off the books. Boris is very concerned for us. He wouldn't have sent us a letter of warning if he didn't think our lives were in danger."

"He's putting his own life in danger by getting us that message in the first place."

"I wish I could help," Silver spoke up, "But my notebook is still blank."

"I could scry to see what's going to happen, but it's hard to read the future. The present is easier to read but the future is very, very blurry." Tilly hung her head.

"Scrying is dangerous for you," Amy laid her fingertips on Sheptilah's upper arm, "You shouldn't do it."

"Let's not get distracted, please." The thylacine raised his hands to his chest. "We must secure this base, first and foremost." He turned to Eggman. "I can apply the same hologram technology to further hide this building as we did for the gold mines."

"Good, do that. This base needs to be as camouflaged as possible. It blends in somewhat well to the surroundings but it could be better." Eggman turned to his wife. "I still want all of you to remain in the base at all times. Don't leave without telling me first and certainly never leave by yourself. You'd be a sitting duck in the outback."

"He's right." Maw nodded. "Nothin' to hide behind and nowhere to run. Roast to death during the day and freeze at night. Aside from that, you could expose the base's location if you suddenly appear out of the side of a rock."

"May I offer a suggestion?" Rouge piped up.

"Yes?" Eggman said.

"Perhaps run a sweep of the EggNet. Purge any weird-looking accounts and re-verify everyone." She adjusted her gloves. "And possibly close the Stratosphere club. Scratch and Grounder are infamous for their bean-spilling."

"I completely forgot about those two dunder-bolts!" Eggman bit his lip. "MARI!"

"Yes?" The robot spoke from his gauntlet.

"Shut down those two and the club immediately!"

"You don't have to yell!" She shouted back. After a moment she spoke again. "The club was already empty but I shut them down. Satisfied?"

"Alert the other Egg Bosses and let them know about the surveillance. After that I want you to do a full sweep of the EggNet and quarantine any weird-looking or behaving accounts. Scan all of their language for anything suspicious."

"Estimated time for the full EggNet scan will take about six hours." MARI said. "However, I have alerted the Egg Bosses now via text message."

"Put this base under lock-down immediately. Nobody goes in or out without my explicit permission." Eggman demanded.

"Done and done."

Maw's phone chimed.

"You sent them to _everyone_?" The thylacine asked into the gauntlet.

" _All_ of the active ones." MARI said. "To be safe."

Sheptilah's head dropped, her hair acting like a veil that hid her face. Shadow turned to her and frowned.

"Mistress?" Maw approached her.

"I need to talk to my therapist." She muttered.

"Alright, everyone who isn't Maw- go back to work." Eggman shooed them out of the room.

* * *

"Thanks, Tarni." Maw spoke to her on his cellphone. "Yeah, I'm going back to working on the sonic drills. I'll call you when they're ready. Say hi to your husband for me."

"What, so you can steal him? Rude!" Tarni joked.

"Oh, never!" Maw chuckled. "Alright, see you." He hung up, walking briskly to the basement lab.

A few Mobian scientists in crisp white lab coats walked around what looked like a giant, silver water gun.

"Looks good." Maw entered the lab. "Where's Caroline?"

"Over here!" The chipmunk Mobian peeked out from behind the machine. "I'm putting on the finishing touches!"

"You're perky today." Maw grinned.

"Oh, yeah, eight coffees will do that to ya!" She spoke in a very thick midwestern American accent. "This sonic gun is tee-riffic. It can shoot through the hole in a pony bead from one hundred feet away."

"What's that in meters?"

"Oh! Sorry, that's about thirty meters."

"Impressive." Maw's brows shot up. "How much testing have you done?"

"Not nearly enough." Caroline adjusted her coat. "It's still wonky."

The gun rattled and began to smoke. Maw took a step back.

"What's wrong _now?_ " The chipmunk rolled up her sleeves. "This thing is so temperamental-"

A loud whine pierced their ears. Maw jumped back, clamping his hands over his ears. "Caroline!" He winced. He couldn't hear over the sound of the yells from the other scientists in the room. Maw's vision blurred, tears filling his eyes from the sheer pain of the noise.

Silence. He thought he had gone deaf from the intense noise.

"Is everyone alright?" Another voice called.

Caroline stumbled forward several steps, nearly falling into Maw's arms. She clutched her head with both her hands, palms pressed flat against her temples. She looked up at the thylacine, face contorted in horror before it dissolved into a bloody mess. Maw turned away out of reflex but still got flecks of brain in his eyes, mouth and ears.

Droplets of blood stained his blonde fur like freckles. He stood still, dumbfounded and eyes wide, unable to process what had just happened. Her headless corpse hit the floor with a wet thud. The next thing he knew he was being dragged out of the lab by his upper arms, flanked on either side by the other scientists.


	103. For The One You Love

The hallway flooded with first responders that came running when the alarm bell rang. The sprinklers above them sprayed everything down with water before MARI turned them off at Eggman's request.

One scientist who witnessed the carnage leaned against the wall and vomited. Others cried and some nervously muttered to each other.

Another Mobian scientist fell to their knees screaming, head in their hands. His implant bubbled under his skull and exploded with less force than Caroline's but it still killed the unfortunate man instantly, leaving half of his face intact. Some ran away while others fainted.

"What happened?!" Sheptilah ran up to them with Metal Sonic beside her. "Maw!"

"Most likely- implant malfunction." Metal said, pointing to a body. "Scanning… confirmed. Life signs null. Scientists Caroline Sweet and Harold Brown have been verified as deceased."

Eggman soon followed, breathing heavily. Shadow pushed past them both and fell to Maw's side, putting his hands on the thylacine's cheeks.

"Maw!" Shadow said, voice slightly shaking. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I could be next." The thylacine stared straight ahead. "I could be… next to die."

"What happened?"

"There was… an accident. The sonic drill malfunctioned and… I guess it triggered the … the bombs in our heads." Maw stared ahead, attempting to remain stoic and strong for the subordinates. His eyes shined with tears he refused to let fall. "My ears are still ringing."

Shadow gingerly plucked what looked like a glob of pink pudding from Maw's ear. He peered at it, realizing quickly that it was brain matter. He tilted the thylacine's head back and sighed with relief when he noted it wasn't _his_ brain matter, but Caroline's.

Harold's body shifted, causing the others to jump.

"What am I going to tell her husband?" Maw said to himself. "It's going to be closed casket."

"Maw?" Shadow gently patted the thylacine's cheek. "Maw, look at me."

He stared straight at the wall. "What am I going to tell Harold's wife? He'll be closed casket, too." Maw leaned against Shadow, sighing softly.

Sheptilah took off her uniform coat and draped it over Harold's body.

"What happened!?" Hope's voice echoed down the hall.

"No!" Eggman turned. He caught the girl before she could get any closer and nearly crushed her against his chest. "You can't see this."

"Let me go!" She struggled, beating her fists against his collarbones.

He began to walk off only to be stopped when she wriggled free of his grip. Hope stopped in her tracks, able to see the breadth of the gore, the sharp smell of copper in the air made her mouth flood with saliva.

"I _told_ you," Eggman huffed, "Ugh."

She swallowed the vomit that threatened to climb up her throat and turned away.

* * *

Silver volunteered to help Tilly prep the bodies. Together, wearing gloves and aprons, they got to work. The dead were carefully undressed, their clothing folded neatly and placed into two separate cardboard boxes. Their blood-smeared jewelry and watches were removed last and placed on top of the other belongings.

They washed the bodies with warm water and mild soap, watching the pink suds travel down the drain. With old linen found tucked away, the duo loosely but securely shrouded the bodies.

Once ready, the spouses were invited to say their goodbyes before cremation.

"I'm… so sorry for your losses." Silver looked up at the bleary-eyed Mobians. "They are unrecognizable because of their injuries; are you _sure_ you want to do this?"

They nodded.

Tilly gently pulled back the shrouds. Mrs. Brown's shrill cry bounced off the silvery walls of the morgue. Silver's ears pinned back, tears stinging his eyes. He blinked them away.

After some discussion, the spouses opted to have no hand in the rest of the ritual and thanked the two for their kind assistance in handling the bodies of their loved ones. They left with the belongings and waited patiently for the delivery of the cremains.

"This sucks." Silver said.

"I know." Tilly responded quietly.

"When you're with the bodies, it's okay. When you're with the living, it really hits you with how sad this is." The white hedgehog looked over the shrouded forms.

"It was an instant death. Didn't even leave behind a spirit." Tilly pulled the rubber gloves off her hands and let them drop into a nearby bin. "But Maw… the rest of them… are going to have to live with that image."

"Yeah." Silver breathed softly, sucking in air through his clenched teeth.

"You buried a lot of people, haven't you?"

"Nobody I personally knew. It was a matter of respect and sanitation. You can't just let a body lay out to rot unless you want to trap scavengers for food."

"Dead bodies can't hurt you."

"No, but it's unpleasant." Silver approached Harold's body and looked at the remains with pity, noting that the half of his face that remained was contorted in a grimace. "It's weird how you stop being a person when you die."

"Hm?"

"Once the spark is gone you're just… meat."

"I suppose," Tilly swallowed, "But to the loved ones, that's still a person."

"Meat with a name is still meat."

"Would you say that about Beans or her babies?"

Silver covered the body with the shroud. "I suppose not. I guess it's just easier to think of it all as… _stuff_. I never had a family; as far back as I can remember I was alone." He leaned against the metal tables that held the bodies and let his head droop. "I always worried that if I died, and I have nearly died many times, that I would be left out to decay like garbage."

Sheptilah frowned.

Silver laughed to himself. "Then I remembered my world was literally on fire and I would probably be rendered a pile of ashes before…"

He suddenly turned and jumped forward, drawing her into a very tight hug, burying his face in her stomach, sobbing.

She stroked his head gently, letting him continue. She said nothing.

* * *

Rouge assisted Shadow in getting Maw back to his apartment. They sat the thylacine on the toilet with the lid down and gently washed the blood away from his face with a warm hand-towel dipped in soapy water.

"You should stand back." Maw looked away. "My implant could blow at any minute."

"It hasn't yet." Rouge said, patting his face dry. "It wouldn't at this point."

"You're all clean now." Shadow gently kissed Maw's cheek to prove it.

"Babe…" He sighed softly. "I have to get back to work."

"You need to _rest_." Rouge said firmly.

Shadow nodded. "We'll stay here with you for a bit." They brought him to his bed. The hedgehog helped Maw into clean pajamas and under the covers. Shadow and Rouge sat on opposite sides of the bed, both facing the thylacine.

Maw sat upright against pillows for support. Shadow held his hand tightly, stroking it gently with his free hand and tried to make light conversation.

The dark, stoic hedgehog struggled to keep his cool; his tail slightly shaking with agitation was the dead giveaway to Rouge that something was wrong. His shoulders felt heavy and he could sense the bile sneaking its way up his throat.

Shadow was tired. He was tired of losing people he cared about and experiencing terrible things over and over again. He was trapped in a nightmare with no way out, waiting for each reprieve to melt away like lemon drops.

A knock at the door disturbed the relative peace.

"Come in!" Maw called. Shadow tried to let go but Maw held firmly to his hand.

It was Eggman and Metal. "What happened, Maw?" He followed their voices to the bedroom. He noted Maw had a death grip on Shadow's hand, but thought nothing of it.

"There was an accident. Something happened with the sonic drill we were working on for more precise mining and it malfunctioned. The noise triggered the bombs in Caroline and Harold's heads. I was right there, so my bomb may go off, too."

"According to surveillance footage you were some meters away from the premature detonation. Subjects Brown and Sweet were much closer to the soundwaves. Scans indicate your implant is unharmed and will not detonate." Metal said in his cold, sterile voice.

"Where are their bodies?" Maw frowned.

"My wife and Silver are handling them. Their spouses approved the cremations that are already underway." Eggman looked at the thylacine with a semblance of pity.

Maw swallowed. He was too busy being a shell-shocked child to pull himself together to properly say goodbye to his comrades. He bit his tongue to keep his anguish from being visible to his overlord, but it was pointless; even Eggman knew that an event like this would leave a lasting impression on even the most hardened individuals.

"That is very kind of the Empress and Silver to handle such a task." Maw said. "I'm sure the survivors appreciate it."

"I need _you_ to continue all your other projects in the meantime _and_ work to find a way to diffuse the bombs as soon as possible. Except for the sonic drill. We're going to put a pin in that project for now." Eggman looked at Maw with a blank expression. "But take the rest of the day off. Start fresh in the morning."

He left without so much as a _get well soon_. Metal lingered a bit, glowing red eyes dropping to see Maw holding Shadow's hand. The dark hedgehog squeezed Maw's hand in return, meeting Metal's harsh gaze with a sharp, defiant expression that just _dared_ the robot to say something.

Metal only tilted his head a very slight degree before turning to leave with his master.

Maw waited until he heard the familiar click of his door closing and exhaled.

"Babe, I cannot feel my fingers." Shadow whispered.

"Sorry," Maw let go of his hand, "I just…"

Shadow shook his hand to get the blood flowing again. "I understand."

"How old is Silver?" Maw adjusted his position to be more comfortable.

"Fifteen or so." Rouge shrugged. "He's not _entirely_ sure and neither are we, but he's definitely a kid."

"And you're letting him handle mangled corpses?!" The thylacine sat up with a start. "What's wrong with you?"

"He volunteered."

"What!?"

"You don't know?" Rouge raised an eyebrow. "He's from the far, apocalyptic future. He's used to this stuff."

Maw squinted before laying back, draping an arm over his eyes. "The _future_. You say it so matter-of-factly."

"Two hundred or so years from the future. He's here to ensure we defeat the wiccaphages and stop them from destroying the world."

"Wait… no I think I knew this already." Maw exhaled slowly. "Yeah, I knew that."

"I'll explain it better after you get some rest." Shadow nodded.

"Oh, no. I have to get up and help Lord Eggman disable the bombs before mine goes off-" Maw moved to get up but he was held down by both Rouge and Shadow.

"You're staying put if I have to hot glue you to the bed." The bat narrowed her eyes at him. "And we're going to talk about how you're feeling. You are clearly all shaken up."

"He has to _process_ it first." Shadow said, baring a fang. "I'll stay with him; you should go check on Hope. She saw the bodies, too."

"She did?" Rouge's eyes widened.

"Yes; Eggman tried to stop her but he failed." Shadow dropped his gaze, staring at his knees.

The bat immediately got up and headed for the door. She reached for the knob but hesitated. After a moment she left the apartment and hurried for Hope's dorm.

"I thought I was going to die, Shadow." Maw shut his eyes tightly.

The hedgehog leaned forward, hiding his face behind his quills. Hot tears streamed from his eyes and down his cheeks. "I thought you were going to die, too."

"Hey…"

"I…" His voice crackled. "I was waiting for you to just… horribly die in my arms."

Maw gently pulled Shadow in for a hug. The hedgehog wrapped his arms around the blonde's torso, resting his forehead in the crook of Maw's neck. The thylacine decided to swallow his pain and put on a brave face for his lover. _Fake it 'till you make it,_ he said to himself.

"I keep losing the people I care about." Shadow choked back a sob. "It's gonna keep happening."

Shadow pulled back, sobbing harder. Bigger tears audibly hitting the comforter with a soft sound like light rainfall.

"Please don't cry…" Maw sniffed. "You're going to make _me_ cry."

"These tears… they aren't all mine." He admitted. "My sister is mourning, too. We share emotions when they are very strong." He put his hand over his heart for a moment and breathed to calm himself.

Maw dried Shadow's cheeks with his sleeves and brought his face closer for a chaste kiss. "I never want to see you cry again; especially since having you here is making me feel much better."

"I can't make any promises; my sister cries a _lot_." He managed to smile. "But I think this is the first time it made _me_ cry… probably because she's only a few walls away."

The thylacine rubbed his nose against his lover's. "I'll stay alive forever if it's what you want."

"Out of love or spite?"

Maw's cheeks flushed. "Maybe a bit of both."

"My Morning Star…"

* * *

Sheptilah sat at the desk in the apartment she shared with her husband and sobbed with her head in her arms. Small salty puddles collected near her elbows. She was careful to not shake the desk with crying too hard, afraid to knock over the vase of sunflowers. Arabica sat in her lap quietly.

"Honey, these deaths were not anyone's fault." Ivo tried to comfort her. "You didn't even know them."

"I'm crying for Silver." Her voice was muffled.

"Huh? Why _him?_ "

Sheptilah sobbed harder.

Ivo took off his glasses and set them on the desk. "It's not _just_ Silver, is it?"

"No."

"I saw the terror on Shadow's face when he was holding the thylacine." He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He was afraid his friend was going to die right there, wasn't he?"

"I can't talk about that. It's _too_ personal."

"I'm not stupid, Tilly; I know Shadow was terrified his friend was going to die in his arms. He was having flashbacks to Maria's death; I'm sure of it."

She said nothing in response.

"I went to make sure my underling was okay and I saw he was holding Shadow's hand so tightly I thought the hedgehog's fingers were gonna pop off. I've never seen that Boss _this_ shaken before."

"He was holding Shadow's hand? Shadow barely lets _me_ hold his hand." She picked her head off of the desk. Her eyes were glassy and bleary.

"Yeah, that's how scared Shadow was. Or _is_. How much of your anguish is your own and how much of it is your brother's shared between your bond?"

His heart ached. Part of him felt guilty knowing that much of the agony inflicted on her was his fault, directly and indirectly. It made him angry to see his wife in such shabby emotional condition and he wished he could always keep her happy.

Had it been any other day he would've invited her to the fields to walk among the towering sunflowers that followed the sun across the sky.

The sunflowers in the glass vase slowly opened, showing their brown centers and velvety golden petals. A light, summery fragrance filled the room.

Ivo looked to the flowers with surprise but not fear. "Did _you_ do that?"

 _You did, Ivo,_ Rabisu said to him.

"Ivo; you made them bloom for me?"

"I guess so."

 _You_ are _the sun. Shine on._

"You've got magic, too." Sheptilah ran her fingertips over the center florets.

"I don't know if that is a good thing or not." He grinned, twirling his mustache between his fingers. "My love, please cheer up. I'll bring you some French fries."

"You said the magic words." She mustered a smile.

Ivo leaned forward and kissed her forehead, lingering there for a moment before pulling away. "When you feel better you should go visit Maw; I'm sure he'd like the company."

"I'm not so sure." She frowned.

* * *

"I'm fine." Hope was busy polishing Omega's chassis with a soft cloth dipped in wax. "I'm angry about these unnecessary deaths but I'm fine with what I saw."

Rouge stood with her hip stuck out, arms crossed. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Hope smiled warmly at the bat.

"You're so tough! I thought I was the tough one but nope!" Rouge grinned. "If you need to talk, please let me know, okay?"

"Sure!" Hope dipped the cloth into more wax and buffed another corner. "Where's Shadow?"

"He's with Maw making sure he's okay. He'll be here soon."

* * *

That night violent thunder rumbled outside of the lair. Hard droplets of rain pounded against the building and could be heard from the outermost rooms with a noise like someone drumming their hands on the wall. Bright white bolts of lightning ripped through the sky, illuminating the rooms with a flash.

Maw sat up with a start during the first deafening crack, running his bare hands against his skull. He realized it was the weather outside and not the bomb inside. Shadow reached out in the dark for Maw's hand and took it.

He laid back, readjusting his position under the covers so that Shadow could curl up against him.

"I think we should tell them about us." Shadow whispered in a groggy voice. "It'll be some good news to smooth out the bad."

"You sure, babe?"

"Yeah."

"We'll do it then." Maw moved to kiss Shadow's forehead but the hedgehog moved quicker and their lips met instead.

* * *

Sheptilah stared at the ceiling, unable to sleep during the storm. Eggman was out like a light, finding the white noise soothing. Arabica was curled up between them on a pillow, dreaming about running in an open grass field like the ones back at Snottingham. Her tiny stumpy paws wiggled in response.

She rolled over and faced the window. She watched certain trails of rain race down the glass and would bet which ones would make it to the bottom first. She was wrong every time.

"Honey?" Ivo rolled over, nearly squishing the puppy.

"Yes?"

"Why are you still up? Not feeling well?"

"It's the rain."

I lightning bolt struck nearby, the boom making Sheptilah jump. He moved the still-sleeping puppy to the end of the bed and snuggled his trembling wife.

"I keep thinking the loud booms are GUN bombing us; or the bombs in everyone's heads going off."

"Everything is alright." He lightly kissed her neck. "Everything will be alright."

She buried her face in the pillow and murmured to herself. "How is it the puppy is fine but I am a wreck?"

"She feels safe with us." He frowned. "You should feel safe with me."

"I think… it's me who is unsafe to be around. I bring bad luck and devastation."

"You bring me happiness and love. Honestly, honey, life's always been insane in this century. This is normal shenanigans for me; I'm just glad I have you here with me to enjoy it."

She smiled. "Yes, you're right."

He pulled her in closer for a tighter hug. "We _could_ drown out the sound of the thunder with our lovemaking…" He snickered.

"I'm not up to it tonight, I'm sorry."

"Ah, it was worth a shot!" He snuggled her.

The rain began to let up not long after. The noise of the drops came to a halt but the clouds remained.

"I think I scared away the storm with the threat of my bare ass…" Ivo mused to himself. "It's like the opposite of a rain dance."

He realized she had fallen asleep with a calm expression on her face. He curled up around her protectively and soon dozed off to a dreamless sleep.


	104. Something About Us

The siblings met on the dream plane that night. Shadow laid his head in Sheptilah's lap, unbothered by the lack of conversation, enjoying the quiet. The landscape was a wildflower field under bright, cloudless blue skies. She gently massaged his temples with her fingertips.

"How did you know when you were in love with the Doctor?" Shadow broke the prolonged silence between them.

"Well," she blushed, "I think I first started falling for him when he gave me his jacket back at the ziggurat."

"When you said you envied my fluff."

"Yes, exactly." She chuckled. "After that… it was all the little things. It was the dreamy way he looked at me before he caught himself and averted his eyes or the careful way he'd move my hair out of my face. Really, though? It was at the club."

"I knew I shouldn't have left you there alone with him." He opened an eye and looked up at her, smirking.

"He told me I was his only friend and wished I could always be happy because we share that, too. It was the first time he was truly honest with me about anything and let himself be emotionally exposed."

He rolled over and leaned on his elbow, looking at her. "So then you just kept growing feelings for him?"

Tilly nodded.

"That's not really answering my question, though. How did you know when you were fully in love?" Shadow furrowed his brow.

She looked at him suspiciously, crossing her arms. "Why are you asking about love?"

"I'm just curious."

She slightly turned her head away but did not break eye contact. A smile crept across her face. "I don't know specifically. You just wake up one day and realize you are in love and that you can't live without this other person in your life. Just thinking about them makes you happy and your existence really _is_ better with them. You accept them flaws and all."

He laid back in her lap and closed his eyes. "Falling in love sounds confusing."

"It can be."

"I mean, why is it _falling_ in love?"

"I don't know, it's your idiom. We don't have such sayings in my language. Maybe it's because it's like a freefall and you can't stop it once it starts?"

"Or because it catches you off-guard." Shadow suggested.

"Do you want to fall in love someday?"

He exhaled slowly. "I don't know. It sounds tiring."

"It is but… it's very nice having someone you love and trust to sleep next to. Someone you can be with while naked and it's not weird or sexual at all- someone you can sit with in silence and enjoy each others' company."

"Ti-ti, I am naked _all the time_. So are you. Getting you to wear shoes is an accomplishment."

"I mean in the context of something like… showering together. Being totally comfortable with yourselves."

Shadow's cheeks tinged red. Even in the dreamscape, some things couldn't be hidden. "Love is strange."

"How do you say it? A lid for every pot?"

"That's how the saying goes." He smiled. "It took you a year or so to fall in love with the Doctor."

"It took me a year to admit it. I was in love with him for longer than that."

"I see."

"Sometimes people fall in love much faster than that. Sometimes you just… _know_. I think that's the best kind of love."

* * *

Shadow awoke to the sound of the bathroom door closing. He brushed the sleep from his eyes and sat up. His spikes clacked quietly when he shook his head to warm up to the morning.

He leaned forward, head in his hands. Shadow sat there for a moment, not a single thought in his brain, before he dragged his down down his face and got out of the comfort of his lover's bed.

The dark gray sky promised more heavy rain to come, the corners of the glass panes were fogged with condensation.

Maw came into the bedroom, fully dressed in his uniform with a new black band around his upper arm. He seemed perky and ready to get to work. "G'mornin, babe."

"Hey."

"You nervous?"

"A little." He ran his fingers through his spikes. "But I want to do it."

"'Right, then. Go freshen up before we see them." Maw grinned. "I gotta change the linens."

Shadow got up and went to the bathroom, leaving the door open. He brushed his teeth, washed his face and straightened his fur before looking himself over.

He wanted to remember very clearly how his life was before he revealed his relationship to the world. He met his own ruby gaze in the mirror and caught himself frowning.

Maw appeared beside him and grinned. "Why are ya frownin'? We look so cute together." He smiled at his reflection.

Shadow leaned his palms on the sink before straightening up. Maw was several inches taller than him, not counting his ears. The hedgehog never really noticed until now what a difference it made. His expression softened and an uneasy smile formed on his lips.

"If you're not ready you don't have to say anything."

"I really want to. I just… don't know _how_ we're going to do that. And… people are going to think about us being intimate and wonder _what_ we do."

"Well, it's nobody's business." Maw put his arm around Shadow's waist.

"People will realize sooner or later you're my first." He looked away with shame, cheeks bright red.

Maw's face flushed in response. "A stud like you? People probably think the _opposite_."

"Even that doesn't matter. I know that people laugh at my sister behind her back. I've heard the whispers here and at GUN. They joke about it, making egg puns and all that. She goes over easy, scrambling eggs, egg wash. It's… it's _vulgar_."

Maw's face became serious, his lips drawn into a tight line. "You're allowed to rough up any Egg Army members who dare talk badly about you or our Empress."

Shadow's tail wagged with agitation. "It's not worth the energy to let them know they get under my skin."

"Are you afraid people will make fun of us, too?"

Shadow looked up at the mirror, but did not make eye contact with his reflection. "Yes. You've had it bad enough as it is."

"Well, I think people know better than to pick on us, especially _you_. You're _the_ Ultimate Life Form. There's easier ways to kill oneself than to go up to you looking for trouble." Maw's expression softened when he pulled his lover to him and lightly kissed his forehead.

"You're right. You're absolutely right." Shadow turned to their reflection and smiled.

"I love that about you, Starshine. You're always concerned about others, even with people who are supposed to be your enemy."

"I'm just not used to letting myself be publicly vulnerable." Shadow's heart fluttered. He took one last cursory glance in the mirror before turning to his boyfriend and nodding. "But I find strength in having you here with me."

Maw's chest felt warm and full.

"What if Eggman forbids it?"

"He won't. I know in my heart he will approve. I am basing my assumption on his reaction to you ditching GUN, by the way."

" _But what if he does?_ "

"Then I will defy him at every turn when and where I can. I will not have anything get in our way, Shadow. This isn't just a fling to me."

They embraced tightly, kissing deeply and passionately. Maw's hand trailed down Shadow's cheek to his arm and then to his hip, pulling him closer. "I'd do anything for you."

"I know." Shadow put his hands on Maw's hips. "I didn't realize how much I like having you around until I nearly lost you yesterday."

"When you talk like that you make me want to just… wait, we _can't_ get distracted." Maw chuckled. "We'll pick this back up after I'm done working."

They walked together to the master suite and knocked on the door.

"Come in." Tilly's voice chimed. "It's unlocked."

Maw opened the door and looked in. Sheptilah was dressed in a flowy, floor-length black skirt with many pleats. Her top was a simple black turtleneck with a keyhole for the Oracle Stone and she had her hair tied back in a neat braid.

The whole suite smelled of sunflowers and seemed brighter than usual. Eggman appeared beside her in his usual clothing but with a black band around his upper arm.

"You're… in mourning, too?" Maw frowned.

"My wife thinks this will show solidarity among the peasants."

"White is _my_ color of mourning, but since I am in _your_ culture I thought I would adhere to your customs." She kept her hands folded neatly in front of her. "Even if I am dressed more like a bride than a shrouded body."

"I appreciate it, Empress." Maw bowed his head slightly.

"What brings you here? Is something wrong?" She tilted her head, eyebrows turned upward. "Did something happen again?"

Maw quickly side-eyed Shadow to read his body language but could not pick up on any cues.

"We have some news." Shadow said stiffly.

"Oh?" Eggman eyed them curiously. "What's it about?" He leaned forward, hands on his hips.

Sheptilah suddenly felt queasy and swallowed the saliva pooling under her tongue.

Maw looked to his boyfriend and gave a quick nod. Shadow searched for the words he wanted but couldn't find the right ones. He wished he had practiced what he was going to say beforehand and mentally kicked himself for this oversight.

The blonde held up his hand as if to say _go on_. Shadow misinterpreted this gesture and hesitantly took it in his, interlocking their fingers. He realized his mistake too late so he leaned into it, lowering their clasped hands between them.

Maw turned to Eggman whose expression he also could not read.

Shadow met his sister's wide-eyes with slight panic in his heart.

It took the two humans a moment to register what the Mobians were trying to say.

"You're a couple?" Tilly bit her thumbnail.

"Yes, Mistress." Maw said, almost interrupting her.

"You're dating _Shadow?_ " Eggman pointed to the hedgehog.

"Yes, Lord Eggman."

"We are dating and have been for a little over a month, now." Shadow squeezed Maw's hand a bit tighter. "Maw is my boyfriend."

A crooked, ear-to-ear smile drew across Sheptilah's face. She squeaked and bounced on the balls of her feet excitedly. "I'm so happy for you!" She clapped her hands together softly as if to applaud them.

"Huh." Eggman grinned mischievously. "Had I known you'd fall for Maw I would have assigned him to you years ago!"

"Excuse me?" Shadow's brows furrowed.

"First you abandoned GUN and now you are here in a _relationship_ with an Egg Boss? This is amazing! Everything's coming up Eggman!" He seemed more excited than Sheptilah, as evidenced by his bristling mustache.

"Does this mean you will be an Egg Boss? Oh, I know just what I want your uniform to look like! Quick, where's my tablet?"

"I'm _not_ joining your empire, Doctor Eggman. Besides, I belonged to _Sheptilah's_ queendom first."

"Rats. I think you'd look _dashing_ in marigold and white with my logo on the back of your coat. Something really chic to match your rocket skates. Maybe even a steel mask that covers your mouth that has jaw bones with fangs printed on it. Honey! Where is my table-"

"I am _not_ joining your empire." Shadow repeated.

"Ivo, you are terrible. He's bearing his heart to us and all you can think of is your businesses." Sheptilah lightly whacked her husband with her braid.

"What do you want me to say? Something to the tune of 'I'll have Maw decapitated if he breaks Shadow's heart'?" Eggman shrugged nonchalantly.

The thylacine's ears pinned back and eyes widened.

"Excuse me-" Shadow tried to interject but was interrupted by his sister's increasingly loud protests.

"Don't threaten him with something like that! Especially after two of his colleagues died in just that way the night before… That's why we're wearing the mourning garb, or did you forget?" Sheptilah threw her braid over her shoulder. She turned to the couple and grinned. "Besides, I trust Maw won't do anything malicious. Shadow can handle his own business if things go sour."

"Thank you, My Lady." The blonde bowed his head.

"I trust you won't be getting _frisky_ during business hours. This is still a place of employment and I expect decorum out of both of you at all times when Maw is on the clock."

"Says you, who has his hands on me whenever he can." Tilly crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue.

" _I'm_ the boss! I get to be above my own rules."

The humans continued to playfully bicker between them.

" _Frisky?_ " Shadow raised an eyebrow.

Maw rubbed his chin thoughtfully and sighed. "This went much better than expected…I think."

"Wait a minute." Eggman stopped the conversation. "A month you say?"

"Yes, sir." Maw confirmed.

Eggman squinted at the Mobians who still held hands. "You hooked up on my space station?"

"That isn't any of your business." Shadow stepped forward, frowning.

"That means MARI saw it and didn't say anything to me!"

"My memory banks were cut off, remember?" The robot chirped from the gauntlet. "I still do not have complete data from the time between the cut off and the return."

"Ivo, could you leave me alone with them, please?" Tilly smiled sweetly.

"I guess; but don't take too long. Maw has so much work to do as do I."

She beckoned the boys to follow her out of the room and down the hall. As they did so she waited until she was a safe enough distance from anyone who could possibly hear them. The nature of her skirt made it appear that she was gliding across the floor without touching it not unlike a wraith.

The trio went into the stairwell and stopped midway down the first flight.

"Maw?" She said, looking up at him.

"Yes?" He answered.

"I love Shadow very much. I know you know this; but I see no harm in reminding you that he is my brother and we share a special connection. I do not mean to apply pressure to you but please understand that our powers are directly tied to one another and should something happen… power may be lost or weakened."

"How do you mean?" Shadow let go of Maw's hand.

"My power comes from the people around me that love and care for us, Shadow. Love makes us stronger and similarly feeling heartbroken makes us weak."

"Mistress, I would never do anything to hurt him. Shadow means so much to me." Maw stepped closer to her. "From the moment I first laid eyes on him I was absolutely captivated. I haven't known him very long but I do know that he's the best thing to ever happen to me in my short life and only a fool would jeopardize something that precious. I'm not known for recklessness."

"I didn't mean to imply that I believed you would break his heart." Tilly smiled uneasily. "I simply mean that your communications between each other must be often and they must be clear. I don't want you to stumble into the same pitfalls that occured between me and my husband."

"Mistress, I don't understand." Maw frowned.

Shadow turned to him and shook his head as if to say _do not push for answers._

Sheptilah started back down the steps again, dragging her fingertips across the wall as she did so. "I think I understand something now; why the serpent called you Morning Star."

"It was a term of endearment." Maw followed close behind her.

"No, it is a title. You may be the Phosphorus; the light in the darkness where the sun does not or cannot shine. Without the sun, the moon does not shine and therefore remains invisible in those spaces. The spirit is the motivation that brings forth the enlightenment and what links a soul to the physical body in this realm. It's a purpose."

"With all due respect, I think I am just his boyfriend." Maw chuckled. "I am not quite that special, Mistress."

"I disagree." Sheptilah and Shadow said in unison, each with vastly different meaning behind their words.

* * *

After breakfast Shadow caught up with Hope, Silver, Amy and Rouge. They returned to the dorm to talk with Omega. Shadow sat on one of the beds with his legs crossed and his arms at his sides.

The rest sat near him and listened to what he had to say.

Shadow did not know if he was building a bridge or a wall between his acquaintances.

"This is difficult for me to talk about," he began, "But it must be said, because I feel it's important you know."

He laid the first brick.

"I am dating someone."

"Oh, my gosh." Amy squealed.

Silver leaned in curiously while Rouge nodded with approval. Hope blushed slightly.

"And it's another man."

"Oh, my gosh!" Amy rocked back and forth, almost falling over. A million names flashed in her head. She quietly bet with herself it was Espio. Only Espio was cool enough to take on _Shadow_.

Silver snickered at Amy's reaction. Hope blushed harder.

"And it is Maw." Shadow let out a sigh, having finally gotten it off his chest.

"What!?" The pink hedgehog stood up in a flash. "An Egg Boss!?"

"I like him! Not like how _you_ like him but I like him." Silver gave a thumbs up. "I approve!"

"I… don't know." The blonde girl shook her head slightly.

"He's not a bad man." Shadow shook his head. "You know that most of them are not bad people; they are just in bad situations."

"Does he make you happy?" Hope asked.

"Very much so."

"Then that's… all that matters, right?" She smiled uneasily.

"Calculating… None of this information is relevant to me." Omega said curtly. "What you meatlings do for fun is not my business unless it involves destroying Eggman's inferior robots."

"I don't think Omega understands…" Amy looked at the robot curiously.

" _I_ understand that Shadow is attracted to someone of the same sex," the robot began, " _You_ do not understand that I do not see the relevance of it to me."

"I know it does not involve any of you, however I felt you all should know so you do not bother me about my interactions with him." The dark hedgehog sat up straight.

"How far have you two gotten?" The white hedgehog leaned in eagerly, eyes seeming to sparkle.

" _Silver!_ " No less than three voices scolded him in unison.

"What!? I want to know if they kissed yet." He blushed slightly, holding his cheeks in his hands, dreamy expression on his face. "I would love to know what it's like to kiss somebody… I bet it feels warm."

Shadow stared blankly at Silver.

Rouge chuckled quietly. "Leave Shadow alone, Silver."

"We've held hands." The dark hedgehog said flatly. "And that's all I'll say on the matter."

* * *

AN:

 **Thank you so much again Chazzy for your assistance!**


	105. Make Me Believe

Maw threw himself into his work immediately. After delegating the outside work to Tarni he returned to managing the internal business of the base. Aside from the usual tasks such as chemical inventory, accounting and supplementary lab report reviewing he now had to work with the bombs at great risk to his own life in doing so.

He isolated himself in a small, unused lab room and got to work with both unarmed and armed samples provided to him by Eggman along with the blueprints and failed prototypes.

"Each bomb has its own serial number and while they all work on the same frequency they can be individually toggled at my command. Once they are turned on they are unable to be turned off." Eggman held a new, unactivated one in his fingers.

"Each packs enough explosive to take off a person's head, if need be. You know this firsthand." Eggman sat it on the metal table with a plunk.

He unrolled a large scroll of blue paper with white drawings and notes on them. "These are the blueprints and notes for the bombs. None of this information is to be shared with anyone else, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Maw said automatically.

"Alright; let's begin."

Maw took the blueprints and looked them over. He noticed in the corner there was a doodle of Sheptilah's face. The thylacine couldn't help but smile at this.

"What're you smiling at?"

"You drew a picture of your wife in the corner." Maw tapped it with his gloved finger. "It's very cute."

"Ignore _that…_ " Eggman took the blueprints. "I designed the bombs too well; they will explode if an attempt is made to remove them."

"What have you tried so far?"

"A remote designed to deactivate small devices. It made them detonate instead."

"Okay, we'll start from there."

An hour or two passed with no words between them. They worked side-by-side in silence.

"Congratulations, by the way." Eggman suddenly said.

"For what, sir?"

"For… how do I word it?"

"Not having my bomb go off yesterday?" Maw raised an eyebrow but did not look up from his work.

"No, I mean with Shadow."

Maw turned and looked up at his boss who was smiling genuinely but uneasily. "I don't understand."

"I am... happy for you?" Ivo was careful to search his words. "For you both."

"Sir…"

"What I am _trying_ to say," he stood up straight and tightened the buttons on his coat, "Is I am happy that you are both happy _together_ and it makes my wife and I very pleased to see Shadow… feeling content."

A small smile appeared on Maw's face. "I am quite lucky to have won his affections."

"But tread carefully."

Maw's expression became stoic. "Did you mean it when you said you would kill me if I hurt Shadow?"

" _Me?_ No, Shadow can handle his own problems. I know _damn_ well you are loyal and would not do anything to jeopardize the empire. I also know that you are trustworthy; probably more trustworthy than any other Egg Boss."

Maw's smile came back. "Thank you, sir."

"I just mean that Shadow has had a very difficult life. I know you have as well, but his is of a different caliber."

"I know, sir." Maw picked up a very small screwdriver and held it in his fingers. "I genuinely, really like him."

Eggman drummed his fingers on the metal table.

"Is there something _else_ you want to ask me?" The thylacine looked at his clearly nervous boss.

He inhaled deeply and dropped his arms at his sides. "Did you two have sexual relations on the ship and is _that_ what damaged your jaw?"

Maw's mouth hung open. His eyebrows shot up and he cast his eyes to the side. "I understand that you are my Lord and that I _should_ answer all of your questions truthfully but I would politely request declining to answer this one-"

"I _mean…_ I don't want it to malfunction again," Eggman swallowed, "And… _hurt_ him." His entire face reddened.

"You are worried my cybernetics are going to malfunction at the worst possible time and…" Maw winced, " _Hurt_ him?"

"Yes."

They both wanted to die right then and there; but Eggman _did_ bring up a decent question.

"What… exactly do you think gay sex _is_ , sir?"

"Work with me here, Mawtthew." Ivo glowered.

The blonde laughed nervously and flashed a strained smile. "Doctor Eggman... my jaw genuinely malfunctioned because of me having my head slammed into the ground when the gravity was maladjusted. I can say with certainty that my jaw is otherwise fine. You and Doctor Smiley do excellent work."

Maw sighed with frustration and put down the screwdriver. He turned to Eggman and leaned against the table. "What Shadow and I do or don't do off the clock is between him and I. I would never, ever do anything to hurt him or anyone else in your family." He furrowed his brows. "The thought that you think I could or would is… well it's insulting."

" _Insulting?_ "

"Yes! Would you ask this if I was a woman?"

"Yes, of _course_ I would. Let's just get back to work." A familiar feeling of dread clawed up the back of his neck.

"I ask because I feel like that isn't true." Bile rose in Maw's throat, stinging his mouth. "I feel that you are asking me these inappropriate and invasive questions because you think I am going to be reckless with him _and bite off his genitals_."

"Not on _purpose!_ Your jaw is in bad shape, Maw-"

"If you don't want me dating him then just say so!"

"That's… not it at all."

"Then why are you… why are you asking me these things?" He balled his fists so tightly his fingers began to go numb.

"Maw… go cool off."

"No, sir! Why are you treating me like I am a danger to him?" The blonde's eyes stung with tears that welled up in the corners but did not fall. "I've never had an incident in the several years I've had these cybernetics until recently and that was due to it being pulled out of place by a sudden fluctuation in gravity."

Eggman took off his glasses, his piercing red and black eyes made contact with waterlogged ametrine.

Maw took a step back. "If you _must_ know we have not yet had intercourse and we may never."

"Maw-"

"And if we do _he_ will initiate it-" His voice crackled. "And …"

"Maw!" Eggman's shoulders drooped. "I'm worried that your cybernetics will fail again and seriously hurt him. These things have a way of happening to me."

The thylacine swallowed back his tears.

"I'm horrified by the idea that I lost two of my best underlings yesterday and my _wife_ had to get the help of a _child_ to process the bodies. I am angry that I almost lost the Egg Boss of the base we are currently hiding from a military body from in the same accident. We are operating on string cheese and rubber bands, here. I cannot handle any more surprises. Your cybernetics? They are extremely experimental; you have a small black hole in your _face_."

Maw looked at his master, absolutely stunned by the sheer vulnerability he was showing. "I… apologize for talking back and will accept any punishment you give me for my insolence and for not trusting your judgement with your line of questioning."

Eggman put his glasses back on. "Let's just get back to work."

* * *

Sheptilah and Amy got to work digitizing the royal grimoire with MARI's help. The robot accessed the photos from Tilly's phone. Line by line, Sheptilah dictated exactly what was on each page in English and gave the robot context to add to the document. Each individual page took about two hours of work and they found themselves exhausted after translating only three pages out of hundreds.

"This is going to take forever!" Amy flopped. "I'm learning so much but it's turning my brain to jelly."

Sheptilah groaned, reaching for Arabica to pat her head. "Yeah, no kidding."

"No worries." MARI chirped from the phone's speaker. "We have lots of time."

Tilly slumped forward onto the book, sighing with exhaustion. "I hate coffee but I feel like I need a coffee."

"It's not even lunch time yet…" Amy looked at her phone. The pink case had white roses printed on the plastic, the colors catching Sheptilah's eye.

"Where'd you get that?"

"It was on my bed the other night. I guess Maw gave us covers for our phones." Amy put her cell away.

"It's cute! Suits you."

"It's a bit on the nose but honestly? I love it!" She grinned. "I like it out here much more than I thought I would; probably because Maw is much more considerate and welcoming than I thought he'd be."

"Yeah, I love it out here except we're stuck inside…"

"It's muddy outside." Amy shrugged. "I would probably sink in it." She moved the witch's hair out of the way by the armful and turned a page. "Man, you need a haircut."

"Do I?" She smiled wryly. "Ah, maybe I do. Sometimes Ivo rolls onto it in the morning and when I go to get out of bed I get stuck."

A loud crack of thunder rumbled through the lair.

"Terrible weather." Amy sighed. "Maybe it's why we're so sleepy."

"Let's go get lunch!" Tilly chirped.

A knock at the door. It was Shadow with prepackaged food in his arms. "Ladies?"

"Oh! You knew I was hungry." The witch smiled.

"Yes, and it is lunchtime." He handed his sister a salad and gave Amy a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

Shadow opted to drink bottled water instead of eat. "How's the translations going?"

Between bites the witch told him the details. "It's a lot of nonsense to slog through; it's very exhausting."

"Would you like me to take over? I can read the book, too." He politely offered.

"If you want to." Tilly shrugged. "Why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Still upset about yesterday?" Amy frowned.

"No, I am just not hungry." He finished off the bottle.

Tilly looked at him pensively, wondering if she should ask Amy to leave so the two could talk. She decided to wait until later. Amy tossed the puppy a small piece of bacon which she happily gobbled up.

Shadow continued their work, happy to not have to think about the horrors he witnessed the day prior. He turned the page very carefully. On the back was a very large, flattened but still fresh and succulent lotus flower.

He yawned behind his hand. "This is why you're so tired…" Shadow shook his head, baring his fangs as he took in air. "The lotus that causes drowsiness."

Tilly and Amy also yawned, taking greedy gulps of air and stretched. Even Arabica yawned, her ears pinning back as she did.

Shadow leaned against his elbow on the book and dictated the text as written for MARI's benefit. "Eating this fruit will cause mortals to fall into a deep slumber from which they may never wake; however it has proven to be a sufficient sleeping aid for immortals when prepared correctly."

He read off the recipe for the tincture between sighs. He found himself dozing off only to be awoken by nearly falling over. He turned the page and the group immediately felt a little better.

On the next page a small leather pouch of seeds was affixed to it with rabbit hide glue. "Hungry grass," he read, "Anyone who steps onto this lush greenery will be afflicted with insatiable hunger for as long as they stand on it. People have been known to be trapped and will gorge themselves on dirt and rocks. Plant some around the perimeter of an important place along with poisonous plants. Trespassers will learn their lesson. Further trespassers will consume the bones of the latter."

Shadow raised a brow. "Interesting." He blew through several pages quickly, learning as he read the text for the robot. The girls perked up the more the lotus flower was buried. By the time it was night the storm was still going but with far less intensity.

* * *

"There will be flooding if the storm doesn't let up." Maw sat on the edge of his bed facing the window. He leaned forward, head in his hands. "We got nothing done today."

Shadow sat beside him with his hands in his lap. "What can I do to help?"

"Nothing, unless you happen to know more something about bomb disarmament."

"Not a clue." Shadow put his arm around Maw's waist and pulled him close.

"Thank God for Tarni." The thylacine said, ears falling forward. "She's picking up so much slack for me on the outside parts of the base. I just hope the rain doesn't wash her out."

"What about the crops?"

"Should be okay since we have some water pumps in place but if we flood said pumps could potentially fail. My main concern is the livestock drowning in a mudslide."

"I could see about doing some magic to make the weather let up."

"Don't mess with nature." Maw swallowed. "Please."

Shadow leaned his cheek against Maw's shoulder. "Babe?"

"Yeah?"

"You alright?"

"Truthfully? As long as you're by my side I will be alright." He forced a pained smile. "I'm fine, Starlight."

Shadow furrowed his brow before relaxing his posture and sighing softly. "Want me to sleep here tonight?"

"I'm going to be doing a lot of reading. You should probably stay in your dorm while I'm studying. I have so many manuals to go through and then lab reports..."

"You need to rest, too." The hedgehog frowned.

"I'm resting now."

"I mean you need real sleep." Shadow kissed Maw's cheek before getting up. "Text me if you change your mind, okay?"

Maw smiled. "Of course."

Shadow hesitantly left the room and went to his dorm.

* * *

Sheptilah drew a very hot bath and placed specific ingredients into the water. Rose petals, black salt, lavender, lemon slices, a sprinkle of cinnamon and a pinch of clove.

"What's this for?" Ivo asked.

"Purification ritual. It's time we did this."

He squinted at her.

"It will remove any bad energies that linger on us."

His expression softened. She tied her hair back in a messy bun, undressed and got into the water. He followed suit, removing even his glasses and got in. He sat facing her in the fragrant water.

"Did I ever tell you how beautiful you are?" He said.

She dragged a fingertip through the water, mixing the ingredients. "You tell me every day. Do I ever tell you how much I love you?"

"Every day." He smiled, leaning back. "I love you, too."

She moved forward and pressed herself against him, her lips meeting his. He groaned with pleasure and wrapped his arms around her.

"Ugh, I will never get tired of hearing that. Say it again."

"I love my wife." He snickered.

"Yes!" She giggled with delight. "I love my husband! Oh, if only my mothers could see me now."

"Would they even like me?"

" _Hell_ no!"

He laughed heartily, making waves in the bath.

"Careful! You're going to make the water overflow…" She lightly tapped his chest with her fingers.

"What do these herbs even mean?"

"Black salt is for a more heavy-duty purification. Cinnamon is to promote healing, solar magic, love and libido while also banishing bad energy."

"Am I not satisfying you?" Ivo pouted.

"What? Oh, you're fine." She blushed. "Very fine. Anyway, lemon is for lunar magic and purification. Clove stops people from spreading gossip and strengthens bonds. They're also a little bit of a supposed aphrodisiac; same with lavender."

"And the rose petals?"

"Romance."

He held her hand, running his thumb over her fingers and frowned when he remembered she was missing one.

"What if we start over?"

"Start over? Why?" She looked up at him.

"I would like to have a real wedding. A real ceremony."

"Our wedding was real it was just very private."

"I want the whole planet in on it. I want people to see us and turn green with envy! I want to show the Universe what you mean to me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Ivo… you know I am not all about that stuff."

"Yes, but _I_ am." He flexed his biceps. "I have to show off."

"If you really want a more formal ceremony I am more than happy to do that; but maybe not right now. We're kind of in the middle of trying not getting executed."

"I can see it now: you in a gorgeous gown of black and gold, me in red and gold and Shadow in a neat little purple tuxedo with a bow tie." Ivo rambled. "TV stations all over the world tune in to see us! We each wear glamorous jewelry. All _couture_."

"Of course."

"We're flanked by the Egg Bosses on both sides! Amy is the flower girl and she tosses rose petals at your feet as you go down the aisle but the roses are special violet ones grown in a lab just for you!"

"Ivo.."

"And our wedding cake is sixteen tiers and each level is a gourmet flavor and it's decorated to look like the ziggurat! In gold leaf!"

"You have _lost_ your mind."

"And we can honeymoon somewhere far, far away and _very_ remote."

She let him keep rambling, laughing as he did so. He gestured broadly with his hands, growing more animated with each word.

"And finally, my love," he cupped her cheek with his hand, "I would pledge my undying devotion to you in front of the Universe; my soul laid bare for all living beings to witness."

She leaned into his touch and smiled. "I think I used too much lavender…"

* * *

"There's been a box on your bed for the last few days but since you've been with your boyfriend…" Silver shrugged. "You haven't opened it. I think it's your phone case."

Shadow picked it up and opened it. Sure enough it was a plastic case with a burrito pattern. He popped it onto his phone without criticizing the print.

"I'm glad you finally came out." Silver grinned. "I was waiting."

Shadow turned to the white hedgehog, almost glaring through him.

"I was awake on the ship, Shadow. I grew up in a very dangerous life where if I slept too heavily I could get really hurt by debris or traveling groups of bandits... I couldn't really sleep with you growling at the guy but I stayed still for Sonic's benefit. Weird thing is… Scourge yelled at him for it. After you disappeared with the blonde the next day I _knew_ something interesting was happening." Silver's cheeks were flushed with a slight pink hue.

"I know Scourge approached him about it. I appreciate your silence on the matter."

"Well, it _wasn't_ my business to talk about." Silver shrugged. "However, I didn't anticipate you ditching GUN."

"I didn't leave the organization for Maw's benefit."

"I know, but we're very lucky you have such a lovely boyfriend or we'd all be toast by now." Silver gave a thumbs-up and a big smile. "Great catch!"

Shadow squinted, not sure what to say. "It is not a big deal."

"How is you having a boyfriend _not_ a big deal? We're all thrilled for you! You deserve to be happy."

"I deserve a roommate that isn't covered in dog fur." Shadow tossed away the box into the trash.

"Well, you don't have to stay _here_." Silver turned away, his face now totally red. "You have your lover you can spend time with…" He covered his face with his hands. "I'm so scandalized."

"Good _God_ , Silver."

The white hedgehog squeaked and crouched on the ground.

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "It's not that kind of relationship," he lied, "So don't go spreading rumors. We may sleep in the same bed sometimes but nothing happens except for sleep."

Silver spread his fingers apart and peeked through the gaps up at those piercing ruby eyes. "Isn't that what adult couples do, though? They sleep in the same space?"

"Sometimes. My sister doesn't even always spend every night with her husband… sometimes she'll sleep in the garden or in her house in the jungle."

"Do they fight often or something?" He frowned.

"No, she just likes to be alone sometimes." He put his hands on his hips, hoping that Silver would get the hint.

"I see. Well, I'll be off, then. Gotta go walk the dogs." Silver turned on his heels and left the dorm before the other hedgehog could bore holes in his back with a glare.

Shadow sat on the bed, the springs in the mattress creaking under his weight. He scrolled through his phone hoping for a message but none came. He laid back and stared at his screen waiting for that familiar ping and dozed off.

Several hours later the clatter of his phone hitting the floor woke him up. He groaned, blindly reaching for it over the edge of the bed. He picked it up and looked at the time: it was after four in the morning and still no goodnight message.

Shadow teleported to Maw's suite and looked around. It was dark except for the dim light from the laptop screen on his desk. The thylacine was hunched over with his head in his arms sleeping quietly.

Shadow slipped off his skates and tip-toed over to his boyfriend. He hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should disturb him or not.

The dark hedgehog gently placed his hand on Maw's shoulder. "Babe…" He whispered.

Maw groaned and opened his eyes. "What… oh, hey, Starlight." He yawned behind his fist. "Christ, I fell asleep…" He pushed his chair back and stood, stretching his back. A soft moan escaped his throat as he did so.

"It's four in the morning. Get in bed."

Maw looked at his laptop screen. "It's almost five. I would wake up in an hour anyway… I might as well stay up. Want some brekky?"

"Maw, you need to rest. Take tomorrow... _today_ off."

"I can't, Shadow." He brushed past his boyfriend and took off his soiled clothes, placing them in the hamper. "I have obligations."

"I will make you take the day off."

"Lord Eggman has tasked me with the-"

"I will _make_ Eggman make you take the day off." Shadow furrowed his brow, staring intensely at Maw.

The thylacine only smiled gently in return. "I'm going to hop in the shower. I'll be fine, I promise. Please don't bother Lord Eggman."

Shadow shook his head, giving up. "Fine."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to send you a goodnight leaned in and chastely kissed his boyfriend on the lips.

Shadow grinned. "A goodnight kiss is just as good."

The blonde snickered. "Go to bed, babe."

"Only if you join me."

Maw waved him off and headed for the bathroom, closing the door with a soft click.

"It was worth a shot." Shadow said to himself.


End file.
